Close Encounter
by Tiamat1972
Summary: What would you do the first time you meet a transformer? How would you react? Rated for Coarse Language. Chapter 8 - You'd think setting up a meeting would be a simple task.
1. Rain at the Bus Stop

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own Transformers. They just came over from Hasbro to visit and be general pains-in-the-aft. All the humans in the story are mine. Rated Mature for coarse language.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a character sketch I wrote to get a feel for some of the NPCs in a Mechamorphosis game I'm creating. All the TFs mentioned in the story are Exiles. They have only been on Earth a few months. Based on real life events. Ok, on to the story.

Chapter One

The woman stood at the bus stop in abject misery. It was pouring rain, there was no bus shelter, her umbrella was toast and she had just had the worst interview ever. On top of it all, she had just found out that she was pregnant, which itself was good news but meant morning sickness. (A man must have named it because any woman KNOWS; it doesn't stop in the afternoon.)

She huddled closer under her jacket. Man life sucked and where the hell was that damn bus! Damn she needed that awful job, damn that bastard that interviewed her and damn that bitch for firing her! Damn this rotten weather, damn EI for making her drag her sick butt out into it to find a new damn job! Damn this morning sickness! She glowered out at the raindrops.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted some headlights.

Ah, finally, the bus, she thought. Hope began to fill her as she entertained thoughts of not being rained on for a little while.

Until she saw the lights were too low for the bus, they were approaching too fast and they were headed straight at her.

The woman shrieked in terror and tried to run or jump out of the way. She only succeeded in falling over her own feet into a puddle. She looked up in horror at her approaching death.

Then the impossible happened...

The car swerved at the last second and missed her.

It skidded on the wet street, wheels spinning as it desperately fought for traction. Out of control, it hydroplaned across the street, jumped the curb and slammed into a tree.

She stared at the vehicle for a moment from the safety of her puddle; adrenalin singing in her ears, then her body remembered that it didn't like sudden movements. She heaved up what little lunch she had choked down an hour ago and then continued to retch, dry heaves shaking her body. She crouched on hands and knees in the water, eyes closed, trying to draw in deep breaths to still her heaving insides. She thought she heard someone say something but her ears were still roaring.

Someone touched her back. "Hey, are you okay?"

She nodded her head slowly still breathing deep and slow. Her churning stomach was starting to settle. The driver, she thought. Thank god, it looks like he's OK. The moron. She turned towards the voice. Expecting to see a young man, she was startled to just see a pair of boots. Very large black and silver boots. Being worn by someone – thing? – very large crouched beside her. She slowly looked upwards.

Black and silver were joined by red, crowned off with two faintly glowing blue 'eyes'? It was vaguely human in shape but the resemblance stopped there. It was predominately red in color with the black and silver as accents.

"Are you sure you are alright?" It asked again as she gaped at it.

Nope, she thought

It reached out with one huge hand, presumably to touch her again or pick her up, she wasn't sure, but she wasn't sitting still this time. She scrambled backwards out of reach, flailing and splashing.

"Oh my fucking god! What the hell are you!"

"Who." It answered. It didn't seem like a question or a name.

"Huh?"

"'Who' the hell are you? I'm a 'who' not a 'what'." It remained where it was gazing curiously at her.

Oh great! A close encounter with an intergalactic smart ass. Beam me up Scotty, now I've seen everything. She shivered. The panic induced adrenalin rush hadn't worn off, she was still 'fight or flight', but it wasn't enough to keep her warm as the rising wind pulled the remaining heat from her body.

"You sure you're okay? Expelling your coolants like that didn't seem too healthy. Come on, I know a great doctor. I'll take you to see him." It reached towards her again, this time with both hands.

She shrieked in terror and scrambled backwards again, feet trying to gain purchase on the submerged pavement. She almost gained her feet to run but lost traction and fell again, this time hitting her head on the curb, hard. Darkness met her instead of escape.


	2. Camp in the Forest

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own Transformers. They just came over from Hasbro to visit and be general pains-in-the-aft. All the humans in the story are mine. Rated Mature for coarse language.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a character sketch I wrote to get a feel for some of the NPCs in a Mechamorphosis game I'm creating. All the TFs mentioned in the story are Exiles. They have only been on Earth a few months. Based on real life events. Ok, on to the story.

Chapter Two

She awoke with a raging pain in her head, nauseated (as usual), dizzy and the sensation being carried and cradled. Amazingly, she wasn't cold anymore even though she was still wet and outside with the wind howling. Her cheek was pressed against something that felt like metal but didn't. She couldn't really pin it down on anything specific. It was smooth and sleek, like a newly polished car, but seemed supple and warm like firm smooth skin. Odd, but surprisingly pleasant to touch. She knew she was going to regret it but couldn't really avoid it much longer. She opened her eyes, slowly.

Red. Bright shiny red lay under her cheek. Glancing down, she was surrounded by black. She was bounced and swayed like she was being carried carefully somewhere and it wasn't a clear path. She started taking deep and hopefully even breaths to calm her stomach, which had taken up a loud complaint at all the abuse it was enduring.

"You're awake. Great, we are almost there." The voice of the intergalactic smart ass floated down from somewhere above her. She didn't look up; enduring the swaying motion was hard enough without adding to it. She closed her eyes again.

"Hey dude! The Sidester's back!" A cheerful voice floated from somewhere before them, obviously their destination. Sidester? She shivered involuntarily. She was in such bad trouble.

"Jazz, I know you are adapting to some of the language patterns of this new world, but you could at least use a local dialect instead of combining them all. Sideswipe, what happened to your side and what the frag are you carrying?" A cranky voice, closer than the cheerful one.

"A local Ratchet. I think it's hurt." The smart ass carrying her.

"Sideswipe, what did you do? I just know you are somehow responsible for this." Cranky.

Smart Ass, "uhm…. Well… I kinda sorta had a bit of an accident."

Cranky, dryly, "I can see that." She was passed to someone else, Cranky by the sound of it.

Cheerful, "Whatcha do man?" Seeing as she wasn't moving, she opened her eyes again and looked around at her captors.

Smart Ass, "I was testing out my new alt form and all of a sudden, there it was. I skidded to avoid it and hit one of these fluffy poles. I transformed to give it scrap for getting in the way and it was in a puddle, expelling coolants. It fell down and hit its head and didn't get up, so I brought it here for repairs. Can you fix it Ratch?" The red smart ass had passed her to one that was boxy and predominately white with red hands and accents.

Cranky gave Smart Ass a hard look, "I'm sure that's true too, from a certain point of view. Sideswipe, I can't fix the natives here. They aren't designed like us."

"Please Ratch? I think its hurt." Who would have thought a big red monster with lights instead of eyes could do the puppy-dog eye look. Not her. But there it was. It was almost endearing too. Almost.

Cranky sighed, "I'll take a look. But I'm not promising anything."

She was taken into a tent-like structure and put down on a table. She tried to stand but one of her legs wouldn't work. She fell in a heap, barely keeping from heaving onto the table. Her mind was a jumble of incoherent bits of alien abduction stories. She knew she had to get out of there but she couldn't seem to focus. Or walk for that matter. She sat on that table and shivered. Before her was the boxy white that carried her in. To her right was the red smart ass and to her left was another boxy white with black and blue accents and a band or visor instead of eye-lights. All of them were staring curiously at her. She stared back, unsure of what else to do. She was terrified beyond belief. Tears started flowing down her face and she started to sob uncontrollably.

The white and red one glared at the other two. Cranky voice, "This isn't a petting zoo, kiddies. Out. Now. Go contact Prowl and update him on our 'progress'."

Smart Ass blanched. "But he'll yell at me."

Cranky "What do you think I'm gonna do to you? OUT!"

Smart Ass hung his head, "Ah scrap." He looked extremely dejected. This was her kidnapper?! Her mind refused to work; she just couldn't reconcile his (it's?) behavior.

Cheerful clapped him on the shoulder, "C'mon Sides. Let's get it over with." Leads him out leaving her with Cranky.

Blue eye-lights looked down at her with a surprising amount of compassion and sympathy. "It's okay. You are safe here. No one is going to hurt you." It spoke to her with a voice that was soft, gentle and completely at odds with the way it spoke to its companions.

Right, she thought. Tell me another one. She rubbed at her face and took some deep breaths to try to calm down. Panicking wouldn't get her anywhere. She rubbed at her weak leg too, trying to restore it to some semblance of normality. Her eyes roamed the tent structure, searching for something to help her escape but never straying from her white captor for long. Her tears had stopped for now. She started and jumped at every noise and movement.

He studied her. She had decided to think of them as 'he's' until something better presented itself.

"Let's start by introducing ourselves. I'm Ratchet. The other white one is Jazz and you came in with Sideswipe. What's your name?"

My name? She gaped at him in panicked confusion. What IS my name?!

It slowly came to her but by then he had assumed she was terrified beyond speech and moved on.

"Alright. Sideswipe said you were expelling coolants and hit your head. And your leg seems injured. I don't know about your people's tolerances or natural functions. I am a doctor though. You will just have to help me out a bit."

"H-hit my head? I don't remember hitting my head." Though it would explain the headache and the rather sore bump on the back of her skull.

"So you can talk."

"Yes, I can. I don't remember hitting my head, I don't know what you are talking about with coolants and my leg isn't working right." She felt too tired and ill to put up much resistance.

"Is it damaged?"

"I don't think so. Just weak." She shivered in the sudden cold draft. The cheerful one, Jazz, she supposed, came in.

"Ratch, Prowl wants to speak with you."

"Be right there Jazz." He noticed her shivering. "What is it?"

"I'm wet and cold." She huddled under her coat. I must be a sight, she thought and crazily wished for a brush and mirror.

Cheerful/Jazz went back out and Cranky/Ratchet rummaged around for something. A large square of cloth-like texture was draped over her gently. "Here, dry off. I'll be right back."

She pulled the impromptu towel/blanket around herself as he left to speak to the mysterious Prowl. She put her hand on her stomach and more hot tears rolled down her face. She huddled in a miserable ball on that table, at the end of her rope and fell into an exhausted sleep.

When she awoke, she found she had been moved to a large (to her) box and put on a shelf of sorts with more of the cloths tucked around her and under her.

Staring around in total confusion, she wondered where she was, how she got here, how long was she here and why she felt strangely like a baby robin. She hoped her little girl was all right since she had obviously completely missed picking her up from daycare.

At that, her body finished waking up and remembered, hey your pregnant, guess what that means. She dashed to the side of her box and emptied the contents of her stomach. It wasn't much, so she hung there trying to stop the dry heaves that followed.

"See Ratch, just like that. That's what it did when I found it."

Why did that voice sound familiar and why did she want to hit it? She clung to the edge of her box too weak from being sick and too dizzy to do otherwise. Her head throbbed. She wanted to pace, run around, scream or something but her weakness prevented her.

She slowly realized that not only was she not alone, she was the center of attention. This annoyed her for multiple reasons, so she took a deep breath and slowly looked up.

Two sets of blue-lights gazed down at her, one concerned, one curious.

"Just what the hell do you think you are looking at? Who are you? Why am I here? What do you want? What are you and what did you do to me?" She raged at them. She glared at them with mismatched pupils and then swayed with dizziness. She leaned over the edge again, dry heaves again shaking her small form.

"Water." She gasped out.

The curious and concerned expressions had given way to surprise at her tirade. She started to feel bad for losing her temper but dammit she felt like death warmed over.

"Here, you keep an optic on it. I'll be right back." The cranky voiced boxy white snapped at the red one, who cringed away from the sudden flanking attack. He turned and disappeared outside. She could see the entrance clearly from this vantage so she could see it was both dark and still raining.

"So what's your name?" The question snapped her back to reality from the drowsing lull she had begun to slip into. She was exhausted again.

She turned and stared eye to eye-light with her kidnapper. He gazed at her with the wide-eyed enthusiasm of a puppy greeting a visitor. All he needed was the floppy ears and wagging tail.

That did it.

She couldn't help it really. Between the stress of the situation, her own sense of the absurd and the incongruent image of a giant metal monster with fuzzy floppy ears and a wagging tail, she couldn't help herself. She cracked a grin and start giggling.

Ratchet (she recognized him by name now) came back in with a container in hand and a suspicious look for her red captor.

Not at all fazed by the accusing look, the red one (who she believed was called Side-something), grinned delightedly at them both and stated. "See, I told you that you were scaring it."

"Her."

"Huh?" Two sets of eye-lights turned to her again.

"I'm a 'her', not an 'it'."

"Alrighty then. And your name?" Ratchet asked patiently.

"Gwen. When can I go home?" It couldn't hurt to actually ask.

"Anytime really. You aren't a prisoner, if that's what you thought. Though you should seek medical attention from one of your own doctors." He placed the container down beside her. It was the size of a small half-barrel and about half full of water. She sipped some slowly but eagerly.

"Why do you say that?"

"This is the first time in one of this planet's days that you have been lucid."

"Uh oh." Not good. Especially with being pregnant.

"Yes, uh oh. You seem to be injured worse than I originally thought."

She dipped the corner of one of the clothes into the water and cleaned her face and hands. She still felt sick and her head felt like it was gonna explode but the terror had subsided. She couldn't explain why she felt like she could trust them. Maybe it was the facts they hadn't done anything to hurt her and had tried to be concerned and welcoming. Maybe because the red rascal that brought her here had decided he liked the sound of her laughter and was making faces at her behind the other's back.

"Okay, then, if I'm free to go, could you please take me home?"

"You should go to a medical facility."

"I will. Home first."

"But – "

"I have to get home. My family will be worried and I REALLY want a bath."

Ratchet sighed. "Alright. We'll take you home. But I'm sticking around until you get proper medical attention."

"That's good. I'll need you to prove I haven't lost my mind to my husband."

"Fine. Let's go. Sideswipe, stop acting like an aft end and go fetch Jazz."

"How did you -?"

"I know you, now git."

Sideswipe, the red rascal, left the tent for Jazz. He reminded her of a kid that you couldn't decide whether to hug or bop upside the head.

Ratchet turned back to her. "Now, if you'll give me the coordinates of your home, we'll get you there ASAP."

"Coordinates? I live in the little orange house in the middle of my block."

Blue-eye lights blinked at her. "Oh. Kay. How about directions then?"

Gwen shrugged helplessly. "I don't have a clue where we are."

Ratchet face-palmed and shook his head. He muttered something that sounded like someone was in for impending strangulation and that someone was red.

The red member of the trio bounded in, unaware of the danger he was in, followed closely by Jazz, who was grinning again. That seemed to be his normal expression.

"Sideswipe? Where did you find her?"

"In the major city."

"Where in the major city, you little glitch?"

"Before you two get into, I dunno whatever, just take me back to the city and I can give you directions from there." Gwen cut in.

Ratchet halted in mid-tirade and looked back at her. He closed his mouth and scooped her out of her box. He passed her to Jazz and then changed.

It was really too much for her tired, sore head to comprehend. Limbs moved and folded, plating and covers shifted and where Ratchet had stood, a white minivan rested easily on its black tires. The driver's door opened and Ratchet's voice was heard. "Load her in Jazz."

Gwen gasped so hard she thought she'd swallow her tongue. She jumped back (as far as she could grasped in Jazz's hands.)

Jazz reassured her, "Easy little lady. Ol' Ratch just transforming to give you a dry ride. You'd get damp with Sides."

She gaped at Ratchet, the silence that filled the tent was thick with uneasiness and anticipation. She looked at Sideswipe, gazing at him anew and then back at an impatiently waiting Ratchet. Through the throbbing of her headache, several things started to click into place.

The speeding car that almost hit her…

The giant that had appeared from nowhere by her side…

"I was testing out my new alt form…"

"Sideswipe, what happened to your side…"

"…hit one of those fluffy poles…"

"YOU!!!" she shrieked suddenly.

Jazz jumped, fumbling a moment to keep from dropping the now raging woman. Ratchet changed back to his boxy giant form. And Sideswipe took a couple steps back as she glared at him from across the room.

"YOU ALMOST KILLED ME!!" she wrapped one arm protectively around her middle as she screamed at him.

"Ratchet and Prowl already gave me scrap for that," Sideswipe tried apologetically.

Wrong thing to say.

"I don't care what Ratchet or Prowl said. You almost killed me AND my baby too. You… I don't know what you did to my head and then DRAG me out to the middle of nowhere without even a "Lets go for a drive? or something?!" She wasn't sure if she was making any sense but she was too wound up to stop. She panted for breath, blinking to try and clear her swimming vision.

"Baby? What baby?" Ratchet homed in on that point while Sideswipe stammered something incoherent and Jazz wondered if it would actually be safe to put her down or if that would cause her to turn on him too.

"My unborn baby." She growled out. "It's making me miserable with morning sickness but I'm really looking forward to having it."

"Great Nexus!! Sideswipe, you stupid glitch! I KNEW you were fooling around again and look what you almost did!" Ratchet seethed at him.

Sideswipe looked hopelessly confused. "Can you stop yelling at me long enough to at least tell me what an unborn baby is?" he asked quietly.

Jazz piped up. "You might want to explain it to me too dude. You both lost me way back."

Ratchet gave them both an ugly look. "I'll give you Organic Lifecycles 101 AFTER we take this poor lady home. Sideswipe, you stay and guard the camp. Jazz, you're coming with me just in case we need your magic vocalizer." He changed back into the white minivan and Jazz gladly loaded her in. He then changed into … something … and shrunk down so he fit in Ratchet's backseat. Gwen was amazed. Jazz was the largest of the three of them.

Ratchet drove off towards the city. Gwen dozed or drowsed all the way there. They woke her up occasionally for more or less coherent directions until they finally reached the little orange house.


	3. The White Minivan

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own Transformers. They just came over from Hasbro to visit and be general pains-in-the-aft. All the humans in the story are mine. Rated Mature for coarse language.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a character sketch I wrote to get a feel for some of the NPCs in a Mechamorphosis game I'm creating. All the TFs mentioned in the story are Exiles. They have only been on Earth a few months. Based loosely on real life events. Apologies if I totally screwed up the police procedures. I left them as is to get the story moving. Literary license ;D Ok, on to the story.

Chapter Three

Brad paced. The house was too small and too cluttered for him to confine it to one room, so he paced between the kitchen and the living room.

"Sir, please, you must remain calm, if only for your daughter's sake." The policeman, Constable Viton, was polite and comforting, even when asking the accusatory questions.

His daughter, three year old Andrea, had her arms in a death grip around the last family member present, the ever patient Rags, while sobbing out a constant litany of "Where's my mommy? I want my mommy." Any and all attempts to soothe her or calm her me with failure. Rags, who wore a long suffering and slightly confused expression, had the most success in keeping Andrea, if not exactly calm, then the nearest they could expect.

Brad was trying to remain calm. Since he had gotten the call from Andrea's daycare yesterday, he had been trying. Hadn't succeeded yet, but he was still trying.

Constable Viton sighed and closed his clipboard. "If you hear from her or anyone else, call us immediately. If you think of anything else, call me directly and leave a message. Here's my card," which was taken from him in a stiff mechanical motion by Brad and absently stuffed in a pocket.

He clasped the distraught man's shoulder, "We'll do everything we can to find her. Don't worry about any of the questions, merely an unpleasant formality. Is there someone you can call to keep you company and help with your daughter? Family or a friend? Call them and see if they can come over or if you can go there. You and her need all the support you can get during this difficult time,"

"Hey, you be a big girl and help your daddy. I'm going to go out and look for your mommy and get the other policemen to look too. We want to bring her home for you."

Andrea gave a big shuddering sniff, "Be soon?" She asked in a quavering little voice.

"Be soon," he agreed. He rose and started to make his farewells when there was a noise at the front door, like someone fumbling to get their key in the lock.

Brad shoved rudely past him as he scrambled for the door. He fumbled with the deadbolt then threw the door open. There, like a damp gift from the gods stood his wife, blinking at the suddenness of the door opening and the brightness of the lights.

"GWEN!!!" He exclaimed and pulled her into the house and into his embrace. He buried his head into her shoulder, sobbing his relief.

"MOMMY!!!" Andrea abandoned Rags and joined her father in hugging the confused woman.

"Gwen, Gwen, where have you been? Are you all right? God, I was so worried…" Brad was babbling in his relief. Andrea just cried, tears streaming down her face. She held her mother as she had Rags. Rags, on the other hand, was sniffing confused at her returned mistress, baffled completely by the strange new scents coming off her.

Gwen started to reply, mumbling confusedly. Constable Viton however had taken one look at her disheveled appearance; her ghostly white skin and her mismatched pupils and called an ambulance for her.

"Question later. We need to take you to the hospital first ma'am. Please lay down before you fall," he guided her to the couch, his words alerting Brad to the state she was in and he gently peeled their daughter off her long enough for her to be lay down.

"But they're waiting outside," she protested weakly, slurring her words badly.

"Who's waiting outside? Your rescuers?" Constable Viton overrode anything Brad was going to say. He had to get to the bottom of this quickly. She wasn't in very god shape and was fighting a losing battle to stay conscious. "Gwen, you must stay awake. Who is outside? Your kidnappers?"

The woman started to nod, paused, shock her head a couple of times, thought it over, then shrugged, "Long story," she managed to get out.

"Gwen, where were you for the past 30 hours? Who were you with?"

Gwen took a deep breath and gazed at him as seriously as her wonky eyes would let her. In a tone that matched her expression, she stated, "Abducted by aliens."

Constable Viton opened his mouth to admonish her for joking around at a time like this, but something in her eyes caused the words to die still born on his lips. She placed a small hand on his arm, "Outside. The white minivan."

He was gong to question her further but the ambulance had finally arrived. The attendants quickly went to work. He gave them specific instructions to pass onto the attending physician. Brad bundled up Andrea and made ready to follow the ambulance to the hospital. The constable made a quick call in to update the case and call off the search. He'd give a more thorough report when he got back to the station before going to the hospital to speak with Gwen Killem when she was more lucid.

The attendants rolled Gwen out of the stretcher, trying in vain to keep her conscious. The poor woman had had enough and was out cold. Brad had confirmed which hospital and was arranging for a relative to come pickup Andrea from there. He cautioned the man not to pressure his wife too much for details until she had recovered somewhat and hopefully was able to speak to the police first. Brad had nodded absently and went back to arguing with who ever was on the phone. Poor man. So much for family support.

The police constable said 'bye bye' to the little girl (who was happily telling Rags that mommy was home and they were going to visit her) and left the house. The ambulance was just pulling away as he made his way to his car. Then he saw it.

A white minivan sat quietly, parked across the street from the house.

The plates were from out of province, he noted as he jotted the number down in his pad. He would run it through the database in a minute. He cautiously approached the van. It wasn't the most current model but it was in almost immaculate condition, barring a rather muddy undercarriage. It was empty, except for some electronic equipment in the backseat. He did a couple circuits looking for anything suspicious and finding nothing. He returned to his car and ran the plates. The license number didn't exist. A phony set of plates. He stared hard at the vehicle for a moment, then ran the make and model, the description, anything he could think of about that van and came up blank. He left notes about having possibly found an unreported stolen vehicle. He then got out of his car and approached the van again.

He looked into the driver's side window to see if he could find any clue to the growing mystery of this van. Other than it being one of he cleanest vehicle interiors he's ever seen, he found nothing. Nothing, except for the strange electronic device sitting in the backseat.

Constable Viton took a deep breath and finally reached for the handle n the drivers door. Pretty sure he was gong to be reprimanded for not following procedure, he tried it.

And found it open.

Committed now, he opened the door to take quick look for keys or perhaps the registration. He leaned in carefully, reaching for the glove compartment, trying not to disturb anything.

"You certainly took your sweet time. I thought you'd never work up the nerve, a cranky voice filled the van." Are you Gwen's husband? We saw her being taken out by the medical personnel. Nexus, I knew we should have taken her to a medical facility but she insisted quite adamantly on coming home."

It is an amazing feat to go from leaning in a driver side door, reaching for the glove box to about six feet from that door to the rear in one startled jump but Constable Viton not only managed it, he kept his feet and put his hand on his sidearm, ready to draw it.

"Alright, the joke's over. Show yourself, hands where I can see them."

There was a pregnant pause before he heard the voice again. "I take it from your reaction that Gwen didn't have time to explain."

"Mrs. Killem was in no shape to explain anything. Where are you, who are you, and what connection do you have with her disappearance?" He fiddled with the butt of his sidearm. He longed to draw it, something about this set his teeth on edge, but couldn't justify it on this quiet residential street when he hadn't seen any weapons or anyone for that matter.

"I'm right here in front of you. Don't bother drawing your weapon. I doubt it would puncture my plating even at this range. You can call me Ratchet. She had an unfortunate accident, or sorts with another member of my party and he brought her to me for treatment. I wasn't able to treat her and she only became lucid enough a short time ago to give us directions to bring her here. My apologies for causing you worry though, from the formal way you address her I take it your aren't her husband. Who are you?

"Constable Viton, Winnipeg Police Department. Show yourself. The only thing in front of me is a white minivan that Mrs. Killem made a point of mentioning." He was getting annoyed. Some punk wanting to play games.

It was hard to say how this standoff would have ended, had not two events occurred. From either end of the street, a car approached, one an older burgandy 4-door in a bad need of a wash, the other, a bright red viper convertible with the soft top up.


	4. Deeper and Deeper

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own Transformers. They just came over from Hasbro to visit and be general pains-in-the-aft. All the humans in the story are mine. Rated Mature for coarse language. Mechamorphosis belongs to Fantasy Flight Games.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a character sketch I wrote to get a feel for some of the NPCs in a Mechamorphosis game I'm creating. All the TFs mentioned in the story are Exiles. They have only been on Earth a few months.

Just to clear a few misconceptions up – Ratchet isn't an ambulance, Jazz isn't a car and is in a pre-Earth mode and we aren't anywhere near Oregon. Feel free to PM me questions, suggestions or critique, as long as it is constructive. I reserve most of my patience for my kids, so don't have a lot to spare. Thanks to Tiontah for the wanting to have Ratchet explain about babies. I wasn't thinking of including that originally but since it was brought up, that bunny has been nibbling at me. I'm going to try to include that in a future chapter. It's bound to be an exercise in frustration… for Ratchet ;D.

Next chapter will probably take a bit longer to write due to having to do some research for it. And providing Real Life doesn't interfere too much. I have to admit, this is turning out to be a longer story than I originally thought. Glad so many people seem to be enjoying it. Thanks for all the reviews

Chapter Four

Sideswipe felt bad. The little femme was hurt and it was all his fault. And now he was stuck guarding the compound, bored on top of it all. He paced a couple circuits around he camp. He wasn't even sure what he was guarding it from. He missed his brother. Something about the little femme reminded him of Sunstreaker. Probably her refusal to just lie down and quit. He hoped she was okay. He really wanted to find out what this unborn baby was and he had a feeling that it would be better to find out from her, rather than Ratchet. He paced some more. He went into the command tent and stared at the communicator but there was no one to call. Just Prowl or Aegis and they had already yelled at him. He was tired of being yelled at; especially for something he didn't understand. Well, he wasn't going to find out anything standing here. He transformed and sped off, tearing down the highway until he had almost caught up to Ratchet. Then he followed him back to the city.

He lost him momentarily when Ratchet made an abrupt left turn off the street they were on and he wasn't in the correct lane to follow. He turned off onto the next one and got lost for a bit on the side streets. Cursing organic drivers and city planners, he managed to find the main street he started on and back tracked to where Ratchet turned off. He turned onto the street and there was Ratchet, parked on the side of the road with a blue colored human nearby in the middle of the road.

Sideswipe cursed again when he realized he was on the wrong side to park and another organic was driving his way from the other end. Ratchet was going to see him for sure. Slag!

Brad cursed himself. Of all the dumb things to forget. He had gotten halfway to the hospital and Andrea started crying for her ducky. The stupid stuffed duck she couldn't live without and he forgot it in his disorganized scramble. He turned onto his front street and first noticed the sweet car coming the other way. One of those new Vipers in a hot shade of red. The kind of car he normally would get a woody over but he didn't have the time right now. Not with a crying kid in the backseat and his wife gone to emergency. As he pulled closer to home he noticed the red Viper seemed to be parked at the far end on the wrong side of the street, blocking all traffic.

Driving slowly down the street, cursing inconsiderate assholes that have attitudes inserted by a proctologist when they buy a fancy sports car, Brad soon noticed the police car still parked on the street, Constable Viton standing in the middle of it and a white minivan with the front drivers door open.

His blood ran cold. Gwen had mumbled something about a white minivan and something like 'they're waiting out front'.

And the constable was standing with his hand on his sidearm, ready to draw it.

He didn't know what to do. He couldn't turn around on this crowded street. Someone was pulling up behind him, so he couldn't backup. (Another asshole from the sound of it, leaning on the horn. Stupid too) He couldn't go forward without encountering the constable and his situation. Not to mention the Viper blocking the other end. And DAMMIT! He needed that duck. Why, why, did the only available parking space have to be IN FRONT of the stupid van?

The honking of the car horn seemed to trigger the chain of events. Brad was leaning out his car door trying to quietly indicate to the inconsiderate jerk that there was a situation in progress. The Constable, realizing he now had civilians in the area, too close for comfort, and tired of the run around he was getting drew his sidearm. Ratchet was startled at the turn of events and didn't react at once to Jazz's requests to be let out to handle this situation before it got any more out of hand. Then it did.

Sideswipe saw the human pull a weapon on Ratchet.

He sped down the street in a flash, transforming and disarming the policeman in one smooth motion and followed with a backhand to his mid-section, which sent the very surprised constable flying backward onto the grassy boulevard. Sideswipe made sure he didn't use his full strength in the slap; he didn't want to kill him, only prevent him from hurting his friend. He stood and slowly turned to regard the now silent tableau as he crushed the tiny gun. He smiled, his trademark grin, "Hi."

The silence, now broken, was filled with squealing of tires as the car that had been honking, now speeded back down the street in reverse. A slightly muffled wail filled the air as the startled child shrieked in terror from the back seat of her father' car.

Brad blinked, "HOLY SHIT!!"

Constable Viton wheezed, not believing his eyes and trying to catch his breath. That slap had knocked the wind out of him.

Ratchet roundly cursed in three languages. He opened his back doors and let Jazz out. Jazz promptly transformed and gave Sideswipe a stern look. Sideswipe continued to grin as Ratchet transformed. Ratchet stalked over and glared at Sideswipe straight in the optics, "You stupid glitch! You were supposed to guard the camp!"

Jazz had been about to say something and looked momentarily annoyed, then shrugged and let Ratchet rant at Sideswipe and turned to the two human men staring up at them with a mixture of horror, fear, amazement and curiosity.

"Hey dudes! How's it hanging?"

Constable Viton struggled gasping to his feet and made his way over to Brad, who was alternating between trying to comfort his daughter verbally, staring at the three giant metal monsters and looking at him both asking if he was okay and pleading for him to DO SOMETHING.

Jazz tried to smile reassuringly and crouched down on one knee, "I'm Jazz, the other white dude is Ratchet and the red one is Sideswipe. We don't mean you any harm. Ol' Siders just gets carried away sometimes but he's good people. Sorry about the smack down there Constable, he was just worried about the Doc. Didn't want you to hurt him."

The constable quietly suggested to Brad that he take the now frantic Andrea out of the car before she hurts herself. Now that he could actually see who was talking, he felt enormously better about the situation. He was still cautious but he didn't think that these giants actually meant them harm. They could have easily done so and even being clobbered by the red one, Sideswipe, well, he could tell a pulled punch when he felt one and he could have run him over instead without any problems.

Jazz watched curiously as Brad went and took his frantic child out of the car and walked towards one of the houses. He entered with her.

Constable Viton studied Jazz as he watched Brad and Andrea. If he was reading him right, he could see a sad longing in what passed for his eyes. One of his hands alternately lay on his chest and clenched into a fist. An air of grief seemed to surround him, as if the child reminded him of a recent loss.

He turned to the still arguing pair, Ratchet and Sideswipe. Ratchet was the obvious senior of the two and even if he didn't understand the language they were using, he recognized the riot act being read by a parental figure when he saw it and Sideswipe had all the body language of a sulky teen in trouble.

He looked around the street. People were looking out their front doors and windows; a couple bolder ones had come outside. All were staring at the metal giants. He needed to do something before a panic set it.

"No cause for alarm folks. Everything is under control." He addressed the bold ones outside.

"But we saw the red one attack you…" someone blurted out.

"A simple misunderstanding in the process of being cleared up." He looked directly at Jazz who smiled and nodded hopefully. He hoped he wasn't making a big mistake but he had to get them off the street NOW. He approached Jazz.

"Mr. Jazz – " he began.

"Just Jazz please."

"Uhm, yes, alright. Jazz, we need to get you and your companions off the street before a riot starts. And we need to discuss your involvement with Mrs. Killem's disappearance as well as the incident that just occurred."

Jazz nodded again. "I hear you dude. I can go with you to give you the low down and send Ratchet and Side there back to the camp. Someone can pick me up later.

Constable Viton started to explain that he really needed all three of them along, while racking his brains on someplace he could take them. It was that moment Brad came back out with Andrea. The little girl had a bright yellow toy clutched tightly in her hands. She was still sobbing and buried her face in her father's shoulder, trying to hide.

Sideswipe and Ratchet had stopped arguing when he started speaking (he suspected it was an ongoing 'discussion'). They had been watching him speak with Jazz but when Brad came back out, all eyes turned towards him and Andrea in his arms. He stopped, center of attention and clearly uncomfortable with it. The alarm in his eyes spoke volumes. The constable quickly saw that he had lost his audience. Jazz's eyes were locked on the little girl, who was peeking up now and them.

"She's like a miniature Gwen," Jazz whispered in awe.

"Really?" I gotta see!" Sideswipe took a couple steps towards them. Brad backed up a few steps, ready to bolt. Andrea shrieked and buried her face into his shoulder again. Constable Viton grabbed for his gun, forgetting the moment that it wasn't there. Sideswipe stopped, disappointed and unsure of what to do. He looked questioningly at Ratchet and Jazz, searching for directions.

Ratchet looked annoyed. "You, 'pointing at Sideswipe', are scaring them. And you, 'pointing at Jazz', get a grip, this isn't the time. And stop giving him ideas."

Brad was distraught, "I really need to get to the hospital. Gwen needs me there."

Andrea looked up at the sound of her father's voice, much to Sideswipe's delight. "Hey she really does look like a miniature Gwen." Andrea ducked back down into Brad's shoulder, this time peeking out of the grinning red and white giants.

Ratchet looked more annoyed when he realized he was being ignored. He turned to the equally upset constable. "I apologize for my companions. This is very new to them. We'll be happy to accompany you anywhere you wish to straighten this mess out. Just let me kick a couple cans and we can all be on our way."

"Good luck with that." The constable replied. Sideswipe had lain down on the ground to look at the child from another angle. He smiled disarmingly at her, blue eyes glowing as he introduced himself. It was amazing. This was the same creature that had smacked him onto the ground and here he was coaxing the little girl out of being shy. Jazz had lain down as well and was chatting at her, speaking softly and gently. The really amazing thing was that it was working. Andrea had abandoned hiding and taken up smiling and giggling at them.

Brad, on the other hand, had not forgotten and one could see him mentally calculating his chances of bolting for the house or car and successfully getting in and coming up short.

"Daddy down," Andrea squirmed in Brad's arms, wanting to go play with her new friends.

"No, you're not getting down, we have to go see mommy." Brad tightened his hold on the squirming kid.

"Mr. Killem, Brad, it's alright. Just go. Be with your wife. I'll handle things here," Constable Viton figured everything would move along once the cute little distraction was on her way.

Brad nodded and slowly walked towards his car, not taking his eyes off the two metal giants on his front lawn. He ignored his daughter's protests to be put down.

Ratchet and the constable resumed speaking, coming to an agreement on a location where they could all talk without causing any more commotion. If only they could get there.

"ANDREA!!!" Brad yelled. "GET BACK HERE!!!" He had put her down for a moment to open the car and get her seat ready. She immediately ran back towards her new friends.

He chased after her but balked when she ran right up to the nearest one, Jazz, who picked her up to get a better look at her. She squealed with delight, showing him her toy duck…

"ANDREA!!!" He yelled, panicking.

Sideswipe leaned over Jazz's shoulder for a better look. "She's cute. Never seen a femme that small."

Jazz noted Brad's distress. "Dude, I'm not gonna hurt her. She reminds me of a couple of my own." He gently placed her back on the ground and gave her a soft shove towards her father. The sad look came back into his eyes.

"Daddy, daddy! Did you see? He pick me up daddy. He very nice." Andrea excitedly chattered to her father.

Brad stared at Jazz, panic replaced by shock and gratitude at getting his child back in one piece. He scooped her up and admonished her for running from him. Her face fell, her lips quivered and she wailed and sobbed again under his disapproval.

"Hey, that's kinda harsh," Sideswipe protested on the child's behalf." Jazz wouldn't hurt her.

Ratchet had a brief moment to speculate on Sideswipe's amazing talent for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Brad had had enough by then. "And I'm just suppose to BELIEVE you after you've attacked a cop?! You monsters took my wife and did something to her and NOW you are after my daughter too? No fucking way! You stay the HELL away from us!" He held his sobbing child tightly as he almost ran for his car. He strapped her in, in record time, and jumped into the driver's seat.

Sideswipe's optics narrowed dangerously. He was really tired of being yelled at, especially for no reason like this. He took a couple menacing steps towards the dirty burgundy car, before being blocked by Ratchet and grabbed from behind by Jazz.

"Calm down Sides, dude is just a little stressed, that's all." Jazz tried to soothe the red warrior.

Brad thought he'd wet himself when the red one's face darkened. Underneath the playful grin and goofy behavior lurked something dark and dangerous. His throat went dry and he froze for a moment until the constable banged on his window and told him to get moving. He quickly checked to see if he had actually wet himself and shot off down the street while the white ones detained the red psycho.

Constable Viton looked around and sighed in relief. The rest of the residents had vanished back into their homes and contented themselves with peeking from behind the curtains. Now he just had to get the three giants moving to the arranged area.

This proved easy now, with Ratchet yelling at and threatening Sideswipe who changed into a red sports car. Jazz changed back into the strange electronic equipment and was loaded into Sideswipe by Ratchet. Ratchet told him they were ready and changed back into the white minivan. Constable Viton checked the street quickly grabbed his crushed handgun and climbed into his squad car. He drove off, leading his strange entourage to their agreed meeting point. He radioed in while he drove, requesting backup. This he knew went right over his head.


	5. The Waiting Game

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own Transformers. They just came over from Hasbro to visit and be general pains-in-the-aft. All the humans in the story are mine. Rated Mature for coarse language.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a character sketch I wrote to get a feel for some of the NPCs in a Mechamorphosis game I'm creating. All the TFs mentioned in the story are Exiles. They have only been on Earth a few months. Was based loosely on real life events but I definitely have taken that left turn into the Twilight Zone.

Special thanks go out to Beertree, Coraxonyx and Wyntir Rose on the Padded Cell for the medical advice. 'Cause Dammit Jim, I'm a machine operator not a medic. ;D

Chapter Five

Aegis sighed as he flew. As if they didn't have enough problems. Sideswipe hadn't taken long to get into trouble with the local law enforcement, even with Ratchet along to keep and optic on him. He cast his sensors downward, taking in the speeding yellow form on the highway, Sunstreaker. Hound was riding with him, trying to keep him calm enough to stay within the posted speed limits. A difficult job, even if jovial tracker did actually get along with the touchy former gladiator. He wasn't even exactly sure what Sunstreaker was mad at this time. Could be his brother for getting in trouble again. Could be the law enforcement for not over looking whatever Sideswipe had done. Could be Ratchet and Jazz for not keeping him distracted enough to stay out of trouble (an impossible feat, even for Sunstreaker). Could be the fact that they were marooned on this planet. Could be any combination of any of the above reasons, or it could be, (and Aegis suspected this was it) that Sunstreaker had found a gorgeous new alt form only to find out, not only did Sideswipe find the same form, but apparently he found it first.

If Aegis had known what he knew now about the Twins when Ratchet had first called him to help them go into hiding…well…if he was going to be honest with himself, he would have done the same thing. He couldn't help but like them even if they drove him crazy.

Perceptor broke into his train of thought.

"Are you positive we will be able to extradite Sideswipe from his predicament?"

"I don't know Perceptor. That's one reason we must hurry."

"And the others we encountered? What of them?"

"That's another reason to hurry. I don't believe their claims that they aren't a threat to this world and live here in peace. Especially with the reaction of the natives that Jazz described."

"Ah, I see. And that is why we are accompanying you instead of you using the superior speed of your alt form."

"Exactly Perceptor. I don't thrust them. Not only do I doubt their claims, I think they are hiding something."

"Why, by the nexus, would they need to hide something from us? We have only just arrived."

"That's part of the puzzle Perceptor. We figure that out, we'll know what they are hiding from us as well."

"I fail to comprehend their motives Aegis but I trust your judgment implicitly."

"Thank you Perceptor." Aegis was touched. Even after dragging them off their home world to be attacked in space by hostile Tyrants, plunging them into the unknown to escape, only to crash land on this unknown world. They had lost 90 of the mechs they had started off with. Five ships had taken off from Mecha Terra, two perished under Tyrant fire, two more where lost in the void in the White Hole, leaving only their ship. They were very badly damaged from both the battle and the trip through the white hole. This small planet captured them in the gravitational pull while they were floating in space trying to get their bearings. Unable to start their engines, they hurtled through the atmosphere, a large metal meteorite and crashed into the northern ocean. The crash and the subsequent sinking to the ocean floor added more casualties, including Jazz's two companion mechs. It was only fast action on Prowl and Ratchet's part that kept Jazz from following them.

The scramble to escape their sinking ship and then the attempts to salvage what they could and repair the injuries sustained in the crash were carried out numbly, each survivor trying to absorb the events in their own way.

They bumped into by sheer coincidence a mech like them that had an alt of a local predator aquatic. Barracuda was not the brightest mech, fortunately and had invited them back to his home base. Aegis had had a funny feeling about him so he sent out two scouting parties to investigate this new world while he took a group to investigate Barracuda's settlement. His story was just too 'fishy', no pun intended.

The settlement was mostly empty, only a few mechs there, guarding and maintaining the site. The rest were out 'trading', they were told. The whole setup seemed shady and made Aegis more than a bit nervous. He was almost glad when Jazz's call for assistance came in. He'd already had had a few stern words with Sideswipe about his encounter with the native but things had apparently escalated. So now they were rushing across the continent to deal with the situation. Aegis swooped down to check on his road bound teammates. "Are we there yet?" Sunstreaker groused. "These highways are terrible on my suspension. And it'll take forever to get rid of all the nicks in my shine from the fragging debris scattered all over it."

"Come on sunshine, loosen up a bit. You can't say it's been completely bad. The scenery has been fantastic." Hound's cheery voice cut over Sunstreaker's next complaint.

"The scenery has been boring. Nothing but fluffy poles and flat open spaces that you can't drive on. And if we happen to pass SOMETHING that resembles civilization, it's gone past in a spark blink." Sunstreaker, when in the mood to grouse, let nothing dissuade him.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

Sunstreaker snorted and settled down to sulk again. After living most of his life in the spotlight, life on the run, in hiding, and now on a primitive world, was taking a toll on the gladiator.

Aegis steered the conversation to safer grounds. "We've been avoiding the larger settlements not only to make time but to avoid more trouble. We should encounter the promised escort soon".

Sunstreaker snorted again. Aegis let him sulk and went back to trying to solve the various mysteries and problems before him. He only hoped that Prowl would be able to rendezvous with them in time.

Sideswipe was bored. Actually the more he thought about it bored would be an improvement. He was in the underground parking garage of the police station, under guard and under transformation lock. The transformation lock was courtesy of Ratchet and the guards were Winnipeg Police Constable, who, in Sideswipe's humble opinion, had less personality than the post he was also chained too. They held weapons, which, upon long observation, he doubted it would seriously hurt him, even at close range. He felt kind of silly now for smacking Constable Viton for pulling the pistol on Ratchet. But he hadn't known that at the time. He wished Constable Viton would come back or his superior, even if it was the question him some more. Or Ratchet to come back and yell at him. Or even that funny little squishy that didn't want him near the mini-Gwen. Or just about ANYONE willing to talk to him. He hunkered down on his wheels and sulked. He had given up trying to engage the cops in conversation.

Some passing deity must have decided to answer his prayers because just as he thought he was going to waste away into oblivion, Constable Viton returned. He still moved rather stiffly from being whapped by Sideswipe but the doctors assured him that nothing was broken.

He waved down Sideswipe's rather enthusiastic greeting, complete with engine revving and tired spinning on the pavement. (Not that he could drive anywhere; the diabolical doctor took care of that too).

"First time someone I've had in custody has been so happy to see me." He couldn't but smile at the alien car. He was all but jumping up and down on his wheels.

"Constable, you have NO idea. What's going on? Is Aegis here yet? Can I leave? Have Ratchet or Jazz come by? How is Gwen doing? Is she going to be all right? Could that mini-Gwen come visit? She was really cute. How do humans get so small?" Sideswipe gushed out.

Constable Viton reeled under the assault. "Hey slow down there. One question at a time."

Sideswipe was embarrassed, "Sorry for doing the Bluestreak imitation but I'm just really really bored. Those guys ignore me and I can't even move. I'm getting a cramp in my rear left axel and I'm not even sure where that translated to in my primary mode."

Constable Viton was apologetic. "I'm very sorry for the accommodations Sideswipe but you've frightened a lot of people. I've asked my superiors for perhaps a portable radio, or TV to be brought down here for you but it hasn't been approved yet. Normally you'd be held in the Remand Center but they can't accommodate someone of your size. The good news is your commander should arrive sometime tomorrow."

"Oh thank Nexus. But what do I do until then?" Another hour, let alone 24, doing nothing was horrifying to the sports car.

The constable turned to the other policemen standing guard. "You guys go for lunch, I'll keep an eye on him for a bit."

They looked dubious. "Viton you are still injured, you'd be all by yourself and your aren't even armed."

Viton smiled and pulled a stool up to the column Sideswipe was chained to. "If the others weren't serious about honoring his arrest, there is nothing we could do to keep him here. I'll be fine. Go on."

Viton grinned at his fellow officers and made shooing motions until they reluctantly left. One of them tried to offer his rifle but it was refused.

He sat down on the stool and smiled at the red car. "Alone at last." He chuckled.

Sideswipe figured he was trying to be funny, but he didn't get the joke. In stead he was intrigued by the human man before him. He was starting to pickup basic human body language. He'd seen 'fear' enough times to recognize it in them now, even when they tried to hide it. The two police that had just left were very afraid of him. But the constable sitting in front of him, the one he had smacked away from Ratchet wasn't afraid of him. And he suspected it had nothing to do with him being tied down.

"Why aren't you afraid of me? Most people are." He just had to know. Gwen he wasn't sure about, she had been too sick and angry but he was sure about the constable.

"Because I don't have to be. You aren't the type that goes out to intentionally hurt someone for fun. And I like to think we've established a rapport."

If Sideswipe had been in his primary mode, he'd have blinked in surprise.

"Oh". He finally said. People didn't normally react to him like this.

"Sideswipe, I meet a lot of different people in my work. You quickly learn who is bad through and through, who does bad things out of anger and who did something bad by mistake. You aren't one of the first type."

"Thank you Constable. Most people consider me a wild psycho, who'll snap any second."

"I can see where they would get that impression, but having dealt with real psychos, I know better. Now, I believe you had a few questions."

"Well you already told me about Aegis. What's going to happen to me?"

"My superiors are going to discuss that with your superior and work something out. What, I don't know. Really depends on whether or not Mrs. Killem decides to press charges. We're waiting for the doctors to declare her fit before we ask. Otherwise, it'll fall to her husband and you didn't exactly endear yourself to him."

"So I guess having mini-Gwen come visit is out?"

"I'd have to say yes, for now."

"How is Gwen? Is she in that bad of shape?"

"She's is pretty serious condition but it looks like she'll be okay. The doctors just want to be sure before they release her."

"I really didn't mean for her to get hurt."

"We know you didn't. Just weren't aware of how fragile humans are compared to you."

"You're pretty resilient for you size."

"Thank you. I'll remember that when I wake up tomorrow, stiff and sore."

"Did I hurt you badly?"

"Not really. Just bruised. I'm fine once I get moving."

"Ah". Sideswipe relaxed a bit. He wasn't sure what else to talk about. Ratchet and Jazz had forbidden him from talking too much about his past. They said it would only get him in more trouble and now that the constable had told him a few things, he agreed with them. But he didn't wan to end the conversation yet.

Before he could think of any thing to say, one of his current guards came rushing back.

"Viton, the LT wants you in his office right away."

"Looks like I'm going to have to cut our visit short Sideswipe. I'll send down a radio for you to listen to. I'll try to stop by again later."

Sideswipe could hardly contain his disappointment but there wasn't anything he could do about it and he wasn't going to act like a new build about it. Well, not completely.

The constable patted him on the hood and told him to 'hang in there, it would be over soon'. And then he was left alone with his solo guard, who was watching him dubiously.

"Why wont you talk to me? Constable Viton has no problem with it. It's allowed, isn't it?" He tried again.

"I feel stupid talking to a car with Simmons around. The policeman finally admitted.

"I'm not a car."

"To him you are. Don't get too excited he's coming back too."

"Oh". Sideswipe's momentary flash of hope died stillborn.

"You really can't move?" Not at all?"

"Can't even turn my engine over. Not completely."

"That's too bad." Real sympathy was in his voice and he relaxed considerably. This made Sideswipe feel a little better. And when Simmons showed up with the radio, grumbling about it, he felt even better.

Viton walking into the Lieutenant's office, feeling frustrated. Convincing Simmons to take down that radio was like swimming upstream. He rubbed his forehead, trying to relax.

"How's our ET guest?" Lt Huff inquired.

"Bored and stiff." Viton replied pulling up a chair. "What's the word?"

"The leader is about an hour out of the city."

"Shit, he made better time than we thought."

"Yes he did. I've sent out some officers to escort his party here. I need you to get yourself up to the hospital and check on the Killem woman. Everything hinges on her."

"I know. I'll head right on up to see her."

"You positive about not pressing charges, Viton?"

"Yes sir. If he wanted to really hurt me, he could have done it easily. Instead he disarmed me and pushed me aside."

"That 'push' nearly broke your ribs."

"True enough, but it's obvious he held back. And he's been polite despite the position we put him in. Can't say I'd be the same way in his place."

"What's your opinion of him Viton? Your honest opinion."

"If he was human sir, I'd say he was basically a good kid that got stuck with a bad crowd. He wants to change but he needs someone to show him the way."

"They interest you, don't they?"

Viton smiled, "Yes LT, they do. I would like the chance to get to know them better."

"Looks like you'll get your chance. Now get. We need to know what's happening with the Killem woman before they get here."

Constable Viton wondered about what his LT said as he made his way down to his car. At first he thought he meant meeting the leader of this group of aliens. But the implication for more was there. Without outright asking him, there was simply no way to tell. LT Huff played things close to his chest.

Ratchet waited at the city limits. Jazz had received a communication from Aegis about an hour ago and had contacted the organic law enforcers that held Sideswipe to update them. Blast it, but he hated leaving Sideswipe with them like that.

But Jazz had talked him into it, saying it was the best way to start to make amends for his screw-ups. So he had to disable poor Sideswipe's transformation sequences and his engine to allay the justified fears of the organics and to make sure he didn't get himself into more trouble. Then they had a fast and firm talk at him, trying to impress upon him to the need to keep his vocalizer off. The LAST thing they needed was him to describe some of his 'arena' battles to frighten organics with access to weaponry.

So here he sat, waiting, with Jazz in his passenger compartment. The law escort had passed by them about 30 minutes ago. (Nexus what a confusing time system!). He hoped Aegis could smooth this all out. The reaming out the three of them were sure to get had better be worth it.

Gwen lay in her hospital bed, head throbbing, dizzy, nauseous and praying the medication would kick in anytime now. She had just come back from getting a battery of tests done – MRI, ultra sound, the usual assortment of blood tests. She was exhausted and as with the first pregnancy, felt like a vampire had attacked her. Her husband wasn't helping matters either. Could he even deal with any types of stress? She was the one that was in the hospital and she had to calm him down? Good God.

Thankfully, an alert nurse had ejected him, to let her rest. That was last night and this morning was all tests, tests, and tests. Lunch lay in state on the table before her. She even planned on eating it, once her stomach settled.

A nurse poked her head around the curtain. "Are you feeling up to a visitor? I'm sorry but he's quite insistent to see you."

"I'm too tired to deal with Brad."

"It's not your husband. It's the police."

"Might as well send him in. Cant be any worse than Brad's panic attacks."

The nurse gave her a sympathetic look and vanished around the curtain. She reappeared a moment later with an oddly familiar policeman.

"Mrs. Killem, I don't know if you remember me, I'm Constable Viton. I was investigating your disappearance when you suddenly solved the case by showing up."

"Ah, I thought you looked familiar."

"You are looking much better than the last time I saw you."

"I don't even want to contemplate how bad that must be because I look horrible now."

Constable Viton smiled in good humor. She had spirit. "Are you feeling well enough to give a statement?"

"As long as you take it slow and use small words. My egg is a little scrambled."

"Take as much time as you need." He sat and opened his clipboard. "Start at the beginning please. What happened?"

"Well I was standing at this bus stop…."

Unnoticed by both the injured woman and the police officer, a shadowy figure stood nearby, listening in on her story.


	6. Meet the Neighbors

DISCLAIMERS: I don't own Transformers. They just came over from Hasbro to visit and be general pains-in-the-aft. All the humans in the story are mine. Rated Mature for coarse language.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Finally!! I'm updating this after a year. *stares* Where did the time go? Seriously, real life had hit me with a sledge hammer. Between marital problems and some bad writers block. Who knew that alien robots would be easier to write than humans? Everything is good now and I've got a whack load more to edit and upload and it won't take a year this time.*winks at Okami*

**Special thanks go out to Okami-chan for beta reading this for me. She'll eventually hammer proper grammar into my poor head.**

Now, without further ado…

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Constable Viton left the hospital. He shook his head in amazement. That was one remarkable woman. He wondered if Brad Killem really knew what he had married. His own marriage probably would not have ended in divorce if he had been with someone like that. He was glad she was going to be all right.

He pulled out his cell as he climbed into his car and called Inspector Huff.

"Huff speaking." His superior had that clipped tone he always used when he was completely swamped with work.

"Viton here sir. I've just finished interviewing the Killem woman and she's not pressing charges." The constable sat straight up in his seat, skipping the small talk and going straight to the point.

"Great. The welcome team has met up with the … visitors. We're gathering at the Mason Warehouse. Meet us there." The cool, professional tone -so different from the friendly banter Viton usually heard- momentarily startled him. He wondered who was with him.

Viton shook his head in disbelief. "Mason Warehouse?" Why would they want to meet alien visitors there?

"So we can talk to them without the panic you encountered outside the Killem residence." The constable grimaced as the inspector answered his unspoken question.

And speaking of panic. "About that, Inspector …"

"Andre, I completely understand. It's hard to herd 20-foot robots when they don't want to move. You handled the situation as expediently as possible." Insp. Huff reassured him.

"Thank you Inspector, see you in a few." He hung up and started his car.

The warehouse wasn't that far from the hospital, so he was there waiting when the first of their 'guests' arrived. And even though he already had a couple days to get used to the idea of giant metal aliens, even speaking extensively to a few of them, he was completely unprepared for the Apache helicopter swooping in from out of the blue. Before he could figure out which way to run, it unfolded into a huge tan and green robot, armed with massive looking weapons. His heart pounded and his mouth went completely dry. It cocked its head as it turned its gaze down towards him. Viton stared up at it. Something in the back of mind noticed that it had a 'visor' like Jazz did, only this one was a warm amber and different in shape. Why do people focus on the oddest things when they are scared?

"You are Constable Viton." It was both a statement and a question. The smooth, deep voice of the giant rumbled over Viton. He found himself moving to stand at attention from the unmistakable authority in it. There was no doubt about it; this was their leader.

"Yes, I am." Viton hoped he didn't look as nervous as he felt.

"I am Aegis. My apologies for the behaviour of my mechs. I hope you weren't injured." The mech had put its…his weapons away, holstered on his side and knelt down on one knee before him, one arm crossing his upright knee, hand hanging loose. He somehow made it a polite gesture, to put him at ease, rather than threatening.

"No, no, I'm fine. Um, pleased to meet you. Your men... er... mechs speak highly of you." Viton had to consciously keep himself from offering his hand to shake. He knew from Jazz and Ratchet that this was an unfamiliar gesture to them and he didn't want the giant robot to know how clammy his hands were.

"As they do of you, Constable," Aegis nodded in acknowledgment. "Where is Sideswipe? I trust he hasn't caused any more trouble."

"He's been a perfect gentleman, despite the less than ideal conditions." If their roles were reversed, the constable doubted he would have been as polite as the red Viper had been.

"Is he going to be brought here as well?" One large hand gestured to take in the block where they were standing.

"I imagine he will be. Let's get off the street while we wait for the rest of our parties to arrive. This is a fairly abandoned area, but we don't want any more excitement." Viton gestured to the large open entranceway. Someone had been by recently to remove the boards that had been holding the loading doors shut.

"That we are in complete agreement with," Aegis replied.

The constable watched Aegis stand and they made their way into the warehouse. Viton looked around, nose wrinkling slightly in disgust. Garbage and human refuse littered the old and decrepit warehouse, clearly the leftovers of the homeless people that normally occupied the building. He wished there had been somewhere else they could have met with the aliens but realized it was hard to find a place to discreetly meet with 20ft robots from space on short notice.

Aegis glanced around curiously but didn't comment on the surroundings. Exactly what he was looking for was unknown but what looked like a wry, ironic smile curled his lips, giving Viton the impression none of it surprised him. The two of them stood in awkward silence, waiting for the rest of their parties to arrive. The constable watched him, trying not to stare. He found it very hard to do; the weapons on Aegis' side kept drawing his gaze like a moth to a flame. They looked a lot like the engines of the helicopter Aegis arrived as but what they did, he didn't really want to find out. The amber band seemed to 'glow in his direction', making his skin crawl. It made him very aware that he stared at Aegis, though the mech seemed as fascinated by him.

Just when Viton was tempted to say something inane or ask a stupid question, anything to break the ice, everyone started to arrive.

Ratchet arrived first, followed by a yellow sports car that looked similar to Sideswipe, along with the escort of police cars. They drove straight into the warehouse before stopping and the yellow car opened up a door. The gathered crowd gasped as a smaller robot, deep green and silver in colour, climbed out of the yellow car. He looked around at the warehouse and the cluster of humans curiously. A tense silence followed as the white minivan opened its door, Aegis opened his cockpit, and two objects seemed to leap out and grow into giant robots. Viton recognized Jazz's white form but the red robot wasn't familiar to him. They moved over to stand with Aegis as Ratchet and the yellow sports car transformed. The yellow one glared around him with a menacing air and snarled something in their native language. Ratchet snarled something back and gave him a quick 'whap' on the back of his head. The message was clear. Ratchet had just told his yellow comrade to behave. With a sulky glare at Ratchet, he stalked over to join the group by Aegis. Ratchet gave Viton an apologetic smile and joined his group as well.

The officers in the escort walked over and clustered around Viton, uncertainty written on their faces. Viton, being the senior officer present, started to reassure them and instruct them to be patient, when the rumble of more engines drew everyone's attention to the door.

First, a black sedan rolled in, trailed by a familiar red sports car. The sedan drove over and parked near the knot of police, four men in dark suits, sunglasses and menacing frowns getting out. Their dark suits seemed to absorb the dim lighting of the warehouse. Sideswipe followed and pulled up in front of Constable Viton. He seemed to quiver from excitement, engine revving as his drivers side door opened to let out Inspector Huff. The incredible gesture of trust on his superior's part and goodwill on Sideswipe's impressed the constable. The men from the sedan looked on disapprovingly but the Inspector ignored them and thanked Sideswipe, sending him over to his friends with a companionable pat on the door.

Sideswipe fairly roared across the floor and came to a screeching halt before Ratchet. "Okay, I've been good and polite and behaved. Can I please get to transform now?" He practically bounced up and down on his wheels.

"What do you mean you can't transform?" The yellow mech stomped over and looked down at him. He spun and glared at the humans, optics flashing, lips curled in a snarl, fists clenching and unclenching. Several of the escort officers took a step backwards in fear.

Constable Viton stood his ground and looked calmly back at him. He was pleased to see Inspector Huff doing the same. He couldn't see the men in sunglasses without breaking eye contact with the yellow mech, so he didn't know how they were reacting. In addition, he felt that looking away would be a bad idea.

"Sunstreaker! Stand down," Aegis commanded sternly, one hand on his hip, the other clenched.

Sunstreaker turned to glare at his leader. "Aegis! Those squishes…"

"Did nothing. **I** put the lock on him," Ratchet cut in as he knelt by the red car, swiftly removing the lock. He patted Sideswipe's hood. "There you go. Now transform."

"You put the lock…why the frag did you do that?" Sunstreaker seethed, arms held rigidly at his side, hands balled into fists.

"Easy Sunny, it's all good." Sideswipe grinned at the yellow mech. He chuckled, stretching his kinked joints and dodging a slap aimed at his head from the yellow mech.

Sunstreaker crossed his arms and glared sulkily at the red mech. "I told you **not** to call me that."

"Enough, both of you. This isn't the time for goofing around." Aegis crossed his arms and glared at them.

Sideswipe flashed a cheeky smile at Aegis as he stepped over to stand quietly beside Ratchet.

Sunstreaker huffed, gave Sideswipe a quick, appraising look and Ratchet a lingering glare before he stepped over to stand between them.

Ratchet sent him a disapproving look but remained silent.

Appearing calm and composed, Insp. Huff walked to the center of the floor. "Alright, let's get started. Since most everyone here either knows or has been in contact with me, I'll start the introductions. I'm Inspector Huff of the Winnipeg Police Department."

"Excuse me Inspector, but what do you think you are doing?" One of the men in black stepped forward. "You don't have the authority to mediate this."

"I have the authority granted to me by the Mayor and approved by the Premier." Insp. Huff nodded politely to the man and didn't lose his smile. "For security reasons, neither of them will be present." He acted as if he was expecting this.

The man in black glared, his mouth a thin line. 'We'll discuss this away from the aliens' was the message his stance projected.

The Inspector smiled tolerantly at him, turning to address the room at large. "We'll introduce ourselves, and then get to business. Jazz, if you would be so kind to start?"

Jazz smiled and jauntily stepped forward. Easily the tallest of all the alien robots, he stood a head and shoulders above the rest of them. He flashed everyone an engaging smile, center of attention and enjoying it.

The officers behind Const Viton whispered and muttered amongst themselves. He turned and gave them a silencing look, then focused on the scene before him.

Jazz had walked over to where the Inspector stood. He grinned and looked around. "It would be a pleasure, Inspector. I'll start by introducing our main mech, Aegis. He's the Guardian that's running our little show."

Aegis stepped forward, his optics narrowing. "Thank you, Jazz," he said and followed it with something short and terse in his native language. It must have been a reprimand because Jazz lost his playful expression and rubbed at one of the horns on his head, abashed.

"Uhm, yeah, okay. Starting from the left we have Ratchet, Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Perceptor and Hound." Jazz pointed to each in turn, finishing up quickly.

Aegis nodded to him. "Thank you Jazz, I'll take it from here."

Jazz nodded and moved to stand beside Aegis. Viton thought he looked a little disappointed.

Insp. Huff faced the tan and green helicopter robot. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Aegis."

"Likewise Inspector, as it is to meet the indomitable Const. Viton," Aegis responded with a nod.

Const. Viton felt the eyes of his fellow officers on him. The story of how he had met the giant aliens had made the rounds of the station already. Now he was being acknowledged and complimented by the leader of those aliens. "Just doing my duty, sir." He humbly replied, tipping his hat in salute to Aegis. He hoped they would forget about him and continue on. That kind of attention embarrassed him.

Insp. Huff smiled and motioned to the constable. "Join us, please." He turned to the men in black. "If you would please introduce yourselves?"

The man in shades that spoke before stepped forward, flanked by the others. Viton couldn't pinpoint why, but the way they walked and stood seemed more than a little threatening. Like they were positioning themselves to attack.

"I am Agent Black of CSIS and these are Agents Hunt, Moore and Weselowski. Your people have a lot to answer for, Aegis."

Aegis shifted a little and narrowed his optics. "I'm sure we can come to an agreement satisfactory to all parties." His hands flexed and brushed over his weaponry lightly. He looked completely prepared to defend his people in any way necessary.

"I would expect so. What 'satisfactory agreement' can you come up with now that one of your people has viciously assaulted two citizens of this city?"

"Agent Black! That's enough. Law enforcement is my jurisdiction and neither of the citizens supposedly assaulted are pressing charges. Nothing vicious at all." Insp. Huff jumped in before Aegis could react. The speed of his response gave Viton the impression that the inspector expected this from the dark dressed man.

A soft clang came from the line of robots. Ratchet had clamped an arm around the yellow one and was muffling his mouth. The yellow one…Sunstreaker, he believed, had furrowed his 'eyebrows' and looked very unhappy about it. He tugged and struggled with Ratchet's arm, making furious noises.

Aegis' optic band glowed bright amber. He stood stiffly as he glared down at the agent. His mouth still hung slightly open as he turned to look at the inspector. He seemed to have been all set to defend Sideswipe when Insp. Huff had jumped in. He snapped it shut and tilted his head, looking down at the inspector. "There are no current charges against Sideswipe, Inspector?"

Sunstreaker sputtered and pulled Ratchet's restraining arm away. "Charges? What charges? What did you do?" The last he addressed directly to a sheepish looking Sideswipe.

"Sunstreaker, that's enough! We'll explain it all later," Ratchet grabbed his helm with one hand, aghast.

"Sunstreaker, stand down!" Aegis turned and stared down the yellow giant until he had settled and sullenly stood in silence.

"My apologies," Aegis turned back and faced Viton and the other humans again, rubbing the edge of his helm. "Sunstreaker is a bit tightly wound. As I was asking, there are no charges against Sideswipe?"

"I understand, Aegis and no offence was taken. Some members of my species are, as you said, tightly wound." The inspector gave a significant look to Agent Black. "That is correct. Sideswipe isn't being charged, though, an apology may be in order. From all accounts, he scared the living daylights out of some of our citizens."

"That can and will be arranged." Aegis agreed and with a stern glance over at Sideswipe, indicated that this wasn't the last he would be hearing about this, no matter the favourable outcome. Sideswipe squirmed under his gaze and rubbed the back of his head. Aegis turned back to the humans. "Now, if that is everything we needed to discuss…"

Agent Black interrupted him. "No, there is a lot more we have to cover. **If**, we can speak without interruptions." Agent Black gave pointed looks at the Inspector and Sunstreaker.

Const Viton was really starting to dislike him.

Aegis gave the agent a narrow eyed measuring look before agreeing. "Very well, we can speak further. Moreover, in the interest of preventing interruptions, I'll send out the members of my party that will be unnecessary to our conversation. Ratchet, take the Twins and Hound out for a drive. Keep it low key. Perceptor, I may need you here."

"As you will, Aegis. My knowledge base is at your disposal," Perceptor acknowledged, bowing slightly. 'The mech spoke softly in sharp contrast to Sideswipe, despite their similarities in colour.

A loud whoop drew the constable's attention to the other red mech.

Sideswipe jumped up, punching the air and whooped again. "Alright! Woo hoo! Wait until you see this place, Sunny! You'll love it."

"Low key means low key, Sideswipe," Ratchet sighed, rubbing his forehead.

Glancing over at the other members, Viton noticed Sunstreaker trying and failing to maintain his contemptuous demeanour. His stance had straightened out of his sulky slouch and his blue optics sparkled with interest. If the glowing optics and big smile were anything to go by, Hound-the small green one- seemed just as excited, even if he managed to stay calmer, and acted far more mature than the red Viper. Not that it was difficult to achieve.

"You can't let them just run loose! Look at what happened the last time!" Agent Black yelled, arms waving. He glared at the robots, focusing his ire mostly at the dancing red one.

Ratchet's optics blazed a bright blue and he scowled at the human agent. He was about to speak when Aegis raised a hand and gave him an intense look. He continued to scowl but held his peace.

Aegis turned back and gave the agent a dark look.

"Perhaps a guide would be helpful. Someone familiar with the city and the local laws and customs?" Perceptor suggested, softly as he walked forward to join Aegis and Jazz. He ducked his head uncomfortably when everyone turned towards him.

"That would be an excellent idea. If you wouldn't mind, Aegis? Agent Black, would that be sufficient?" Insp. Huff glanced between the two of them, eyebrow raised.

Sunstreaker sputtered. "I don't need a human watching me. I –mmmph!!" A black hand muffled the rest of the golden robot's rant.

"Sorry about that. Sunny just gets carried away sometimes. A guide would be fine with us, Aegis." With one hand covering Sunstreaker's mouth, Sideswipe pointed towards the men in black with his free hand. "As long as it isn't one of those black coloured humans."

Ratchet nodded in agreement. "That would be for the best. Good idea, Perceptor."

"Who's going to be our guide?" A smooth, gentle sounding voice spoke up, surprising the constable. He glanced away from the irate Agent only to be surprised a second time when he found it was from the green mech. Hound. He had been expecting something higher pitched.

"Who indeed?" Aegis responded.

Something in his tone made the constable tear his attention away from the smaller green robot and look around.

To find everyone looking directly at him.


	7. Mud Fight

**DISCLAIMERS:** I don't own Transformers. They just came over from Hasbro to visit and be general pains-in-the-aft. All the humans in the story are mine. Rated Mature for coarse language.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Oh lookie! I'm updating! I actually had this written when I posted chapter 6 but it needed a lot of editing. Finally got it done and betaed. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Drop me a line and let me know.

**Special thanks go out to Okami-chan for beta reading this for me. **

* * *

Ratchet sat in his alt form at the side of the road and grumbled low in his vocalizer. If he had been in his primary mode, he'd be rubbing his head to ease the nasty ache that seemed to be building in his processor.

His instructions were simple enough. Take the Twins and Hound out for a drive. Keep it low key. Const Viton is your guide, so listen to him and make sure everyone else, specifically Sunstreaker, did as well.

Sounded simple anyways. Ratchet's engine growled. Fragging primary colored glitches couldn't even get that right.

Since he had the largest alt form, Hound and the Constable had elected to ride with him. Everything was nice, polite, and orderly as they drove out into the city. About five minutes later, the bickering started. What started it, or what it was even about, he couldn't guess. Only thing Ratchet knew, was one minute after it started, he wanted to remove their vocalizers with a rusty handsaw.

Ten minutes after that, they had pulled onto a deserted side street so Hound and Viton could get out of Ratchet. This served two purposes. One, the scout and the police officer could speak to the twins and try to negotiate a truce. Two, Ratchet could count the decimal places in pi until he felt calm enough to deal with them himself. Nexus but they could get under his plating fast! It didn't take long to remember why Aegis had elected to split them up for the scouting missions. Ratchet counted down a few more decimal places, silently thanking the First Builders that Prowl's group hadn't arrived yet. Adding Bluestreak to the equation would be disastrous. The young former Courier was no match for the boisterous duo physically but no one could out argue him when he got wound up. No one could keep up.

Hound walked up to Ratchet's passenger door and leaned on him, green helm resting on white plating. "Nexus, he's in a mood."

"Sunstreaker?" Ratchet dryly inquired.

"You got it. Const Viton suggested that one of us ride with a twin to help keep the peace. Sideswipe is fine with the idea. Sunstreaker however…" Hound vented a long sigh, slumping a bit against Ratchet's side.

Ratchet focused his sensors on the small scout in concern. "Hound, when was the last time you properly recharged?"

"Just after we separated. I tried to rest on the way south but with trying to keep Sunstreaker calm, it just didn't happen. And now he's 'tired of dragging my aft around,' " Hound replied, tiredly.

"Could you ride with Sideswipe and Const Viton ride with Sunstreaker?" Ratchet suggested. Of all the fragging times to get difficult.

"Haven't you heard Sunstreaker growling and revving? He won't let the constable near him."

"Sorry, I've been tuning them out." The smooth purr of Ratchet's engine, hiccupped in embarrassment. He should have been paying closer attention.

"'Cause if you don't, you'll never be able to calm down," Hound chuckled.

"Hmph. Don't tell me they don't frustrate you too." Hound was one of the most patient mechs Ratchet knew, but dealing with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe strained even Hound's limits. Ratchet focused his sensors behind him to check on the twins and the constable.

Sunstreaker sat behind him, fortunately still in alt mode, Sideswipe parked close behind his brother. Const Viton was making his way back up to Ratchet, giving the yellow sports car a wide berth.

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Const Viton rubbed his temples.

Ratchet pondered that a moment before replying. "I don't know what small rodents have to do with our problems but it is an apt description."

"It's a human expression, Ratchet. Never mind, you got the gist of it. What are we going to do with Chaos and Mayhem?" The human leaned back against the white door. "I really, really want a coffee, the larger the better."

"We could head out to your base camp, Ratchet. Give us something to do, get the twins away from everything and I could get some quick recharge," Hound suggested.

Ratchet revved his engine uncertainly. "I don't know. Const Viton is supposed to be guiding us around the city."

"I don't mind, as long as I can get something to eat on the way. If Sideswipe wouldn't mind, we could stop on the way and meet you out there. Give them both a little time to cool off," Viton assured him.

"Thank you. Hound, tell the yellow glitch back there to follow me and to behave himself or he's going to be reformatted into something unpleasant. Then come ride with me and get some recharge. You will be all right with the red menace, Constable?" Ratchet didn't really want to split their small group, but under the circumstances, there wasn't really another option.

"Relax Ratchet, Sideswipe and I will be fine." Const Viton patted his door reassuringly. "See you there."

Hound went and spoke in low clicks and whirs to Sunstreaker and Viton walked back to Sideswipe.

~0~0~0~

Sideswipe chuckled low in his vocalizer, windshield wipers rising slightly in a small smirk. The constable hadn't taken long to get used to his brother. Const Viton had left a huge gap between him and Sunstreaker when he had walked over to talk to Ratchet. Now, walking back to Sideswipe, he walked close enough to touch Sunstreaker and ignored the growling revs the yellow sports car made.

"What's going on? Besides Sunny being an exhaust port. That's normal." Sideswipe opened his driver's door for the human.

Const Viton took the invitation and got in, leaning back with a sigh. "We are going to head out to your camp for a bit. Ratchet is taking Sunstreaker and Hound ahead and if you don't mind, I'd like to stop for something to eat on the way."

Sideswipe started to chuckle. "This should be good. Wanna bet that Ratchet has a problem getting Sunstreaker into the camp?"

The human officer shook his head, with a wry smile. "I know a sucker bet when I hear one. You know your brother much better than I do. So how about that 'pit stop'? I need to 'refuel'."

"Sure, no problem. Been wondering how humans refuel," Sideswipe replied, engine revving eagerly.

~0~0~0~

Sideswipe cruised slowly along the highway. Const Viton insisted that he drive at the speed limit, but he was more than happy just to be stretching his axles. Four days in an underground garage, stuck in alt form, did little to dampen his spirits. The day was bright and sunny, he was cruising along at a decent speed, he had made some new friends, and his brother was back with him. Life looked pretty good.

In fact, he couldn't wait to catch up to Sunstreaker, Ratchet and Hound, just to see the show. As interesting as it was, he was glad the side trip through the 'drive thru coffee shop' hadn't taken that long. He hummed happily, engine thrumming in a pleasing counter rhythm.

His human passenger paused in sipping his liquid fuel, something he called an 'extra large double-double dark roast.'

"You are certainly chipper today. Glad to be out of the chains?" Const Viton leaned comfortably back in Sideswipe's driver's seat and smiled, focusing on a spot on his dashboard.

"I'm great! Sunny is here and the show should be underway. Hope we don't miss too much." Sideswipe revved his engine playfully.

"The show?"

"One thing you need to know about Sunstreaker. Probably the only thing you need to know. Don't frag up his paint job." Sideswipe wiggled his wipers in an alt mode smirk.

His internal scans showed the constable raising one of lines above his optics. He looked remarkably like Aegis at that moment, minus the visor.

"I'll keep that in mind," was the only reply.

Sideswipe continued to happily hum the rest of the way to the camp.

~0~0~0~

The scene when they arrived at the path that led from the road to the camp was exactly as Sideswipe had envisioned it. He heard the yelling long before he actually arrived. All of them were in primary mode and the way Ratchet waved his arms above his head as he leaned towards the yellow mech to snarl something bespoke his irritation. Sunstreaker had his arms crossed and he snarled something back at Ratchet, his stance sulky and stubborn. Hound stood off to the side, leaning on a fluffy pole, watching the humans that had stopped their cars to gape at the two larger mechs arguing.

Sideswipe dodged around the gathered humans and vehicles and came to a stop not far from Hound. The arguing pair hadn't noticed his arrival. Hound left his pole and wandered over to the red Viper, glancing briefly over at the milling humans again before focusing on his comrade.

"How long have they been going at it?" Sideswipe asked him.

"A few breems," Hound sighed and shrugged dramatically. "As soon as Sunstreaker took a good look at the path."

Sideswipe chuckled. "He'll probably be fragged with me for not warning him."

The constable tapped on his door, reminding Sideswipe of his presence. Sideswipe obligingly opened the door to let him out, transforming when the human stood beside Hound.

"So much for low key. Can't Ratchet deal with anyone without yelling?" The Constable shook his head and sighed. "I'm going to have to call this in. And handle the Mounties."

Sideswipe exchanged a look with Hound.

"Ratchet? Not since I've known him and I've known him a long time," Hound shrugged again.

"Why do you have to deal with Mounties?" Sideswipe crouched down to speak with the smaller mech and human easier. "What is a Mountie? Can't you handle it?" He tilted his head in confusion.

"We're out of my jurisdiction, Sideswipe. Don't worry about it. Just get those two off the road and head towards camp." The constable took his cell out of his pocket.

Sideswipe glanced towards his brother and Ratchet and grinned. Perfect. "No problem, Constable. I got it covered." With that, he left Hound with the human and sauntered over.

As he walked away, he heard Hound mutter. "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"

Sideswipe ignored him and walked up to Sunstreaker, throwing an arm around the yellow mech's shoulders. "Hiya Sunshine, miss me?"

Sunstreaker irritably shrugged him off. "Like a short circuit. Frag off!"

Ratchet stopped his tirade and looked suspiciously at Sideswipe. Sideswipe grinned back at him as he put his arm around his brother's shoulders again. "You know Sunny, you really need to relax. Cool off; enjoy the lovely scenery. I mean, look at all these lovely fluffy poles."

Shrugging Sideswipe's arm off again, Sunstreaker stepped back from him and glared. "You mean the trees, you idiot. Hound 'educated' me about them on the way here to bail your rusty aft out of trouble." He crossed his arms, huffing in disgust.

Sideswipe blinked his blue optics. "Is that what they are called?"

Sunstreaker snorted in contempt, a harsh sound from his head vents.

"Well you are in a mood, aren't you? You would feel better if you cleaned up a bit. Ratchet probably didn't get a chance to tell you about the other way in with the way you were carrying on." Sideswipe pasted on a concerned smile. Inside he was smirking. Sunstreaker would be too distracted by the prospect of getting clean to notice he was up to anything.

Sunstreaker brightened, just as Sideswipe knew he would. "What other way?"

His twin was really too predictable for his own good. "Come on, right this way. I'll show you." Sideswipe motioned to one side with his arms.

Sunstreaker stepped forward, coming up his brother's right side. Sideswipe led him forward a couple steps, then stuck his right leg in amidst Sunstreaker's, effectively tripping him. Sunstreaker had only time for a shocked electronic squawk before completely losing his balance and falling with a tremendous splash into the water-filled ditch.

Humans shrieked and scattered as the cold, filthy water cascaded down on top of them. Const Viton stuck with Hound, ducking his head and cursing vehemently. He had been in the middle of leaving a message for Insp. Huff but lost the connection; his cell phone now soaked.

Ratchet stared. "I don't believe this. What the frag are you doing?"

Sideswipe ignored him and in truth, wouldn't have had the time to answer. A low, guttural growl came from the yellow mech as he gracelessly got up out of the ditch. Grime and all kinds of organic matter covered him and dirty water poured out of his kibble gaps and joint covers.

"I told you that you needed to cool off. Now you are," quipped the red Viper cheekily.

That was the last straw. With a fearsome yell, the yellow mech launched himself at Sideswipe, who had turned with a wild whoop and ran down the muddy path. Heedless of the muck and puddles now, Sunstreaker followed, hot on his heels.

"Sweet slagging generators! Why did they have to do this NOW of all times? I'm going to make sure they don't completely offline each other." Ratchet stalked down the path after them.

Hound and the constable exchanged looks.

"Well, you did ask him to get them into the camp," Hound said wryly, brushing off wet leaves and dirt.

The human gave him an irritated glance before heading over to deal with the RCMP officers now on the scene and see if someone had a functional cell phone.

~0~0~0~

Sideswipe ran down the short path, dodging trees and rocks, fleetingly recalling the last time he had come down it. He had been carrying an injured human for Ratchet to repair. So much had happened since then. A crash behind him brought him out of his musings. Sunstreaker, usually so deft in his movements, wasn't bothering to dodge the trees that were overhanging the path. Sideswipe felt a surge of amusement. He couldn't wait until his brother had to fish splinters out of his vents.

Just as he emerged into the camp, a huge weight impacted him from behind and drove him down onto the sticky ground. "Oof!"

"You fragging loser! What's fritzing your programming?" Sunstreaker's voice rumbled from behind him.

The weight lifted. Sideswipe tried to get to his knees when a hard blow struck him on the back of the head, driving him forward again with a grunt of pain. He caught himself this time and rolled to the side, just in time to avoid another driving blow. He kicked out, catching the dirty yellow Viper in the midsection and knocking him backwards with a loud grunt.

Sideswipe smirked. "Nothing's fritzing my programming, you're just too uptight." He jumped to his feet in one agile move and took a couple steps back. He got into a defensive stance, feet placed shoulder width apart, hands held up in front of his chest, just as Sunstreaker surged to his feet and came at him again.

"I'll show you uptight, fragger!" Sunstreaker yelled as he swung his right fist towards Sideswipe's head again.

Sideswipe dodged the fist and knocked aside the follow up kick to his knee. "Yup, uptight. And no sense of humor."

Sunstreaker didn't respond. He snarled and lashed out, smashing against his brother's unguarded shoulder. Sideswipe grunted. The attack was expected but still hurt. A quick glance at Sunstreaker showed he had once again left himself open. Sideswipe took it, hitting him hard with a cross body strike. The yellow warrior yelped in pain, hit turning him about. Sideswipe smirked; Sunny always left him that opening.

Sunstreaker growled, optics flashing. He twisted, making a wild grab for Sideswipe. Sideswipe laughed and swung out of reach. He used the momentum to roundhouse kick his furious twin. They stood too close to each other for the kick to have much force behind it, but it still knocked the yellow Viper onto the mucky ground.

Sideswipe threw himself down at his twin. He attempted to pin Sunstreaker's arms behind his back, holding him in the mud. The wet, grimy organic coating made the yellow warrior's smooth plating slippery and he couldn't get a hold on Sunstreaker. Sunstreaker squirmed around and grabbed back at him. Luckily, the mud made Sideswipe just as slippery. They rolled and wrestled on the muddy ground, snarling curses and insults at each other. They were both so covered in mud that a spectator wouldn't be able to tell who was who.

Sunstreaker gave a mighty heave and tossed Sideswipe off him. Sideswipe landed on his back with a gasp and a squish. He lay there, blowing gunk out of his vents as his cooling system tried to clear them to draw in some air. He stared up at the sky, the trees, the clouds and the glaring mud-caked form that loomed over him. He started to giggle. "That's a good look for you, bro." Sunstreaker had only a few yellow spots peeking through a thick layer of mud. Some muddy splinters stuck from his head vents but the crowning glory was the leafy twig that had stuck itself between Sunstreaker's optics.

"You are fragging insane." Sunstreaker shook his head, sending clods of muck flying.

"Of course. That's why you love me. Feel better?" Sideswipe smiled at him, holding a hand up.

"I'll feel better when I actually get clean. No tricks." Sunstreaker's lighter tone belied any sting the words usually would have had. He took Sideswipe's hand and hoisted him to his feet. "So where do we clean up?"

"There's a hose and scrub brush over this way. No tricks," Sideswipe clapped his arm over the muddy yellow shoulders. This time Sunstreaker didn't pull away. Instead, he quirked a half smile at his brother, blue optics sparkling as Sideswipe led him over to the primitive set up they had for clean up.

~0~0~0~

Ratchet shook his head as he watched the brothers hose each other off. He had come to stop them from fighting, but hadn't been able to see a way to stop them, with the brawl in full swing when he arrived. He had looked around quickly but before he found anything, Sideswipe had started laughing and the whole thing was over. He had known them for a while now and he still didn't understand them.

"Crisis averted?" Hound's amused voice drifted up from behind him. Ratchet turned to see the scout emerging from the shadows of the path, accompanied by the constable.

"Nexus and the Void! Those two are going to give me premature shutdown with their antics. They are best friends again. For however long that will last," Ratchet put his hand on his hip as he bent down towards his green comrade, shaking a finger at him in annoyance. "If you start laughing Hound, I'm going to reformat you into a scrap compressor!"

Hound's amber optics twinkled back at him. "Yes Ratchet, I know you will. Just like every other time. I'm on to you, you know. Don't worry, I won't tell the Twins."

Ratchet muttered something about uppity scout companions and looked at the Constable. The human glared at the now clean twins, the muck and organic matter that generously caked his once pristine uniform stood out in stark contrast. "I must apologize, Constable. There seems to be an unfortunate pattern forming with humans and our camp. It seems you must arrive wet and dirty, with Sideswipe both as the cause and transportation." He rubbed ruefully at his face.

The Constable looked at him, then began to chuckle as he wiped some of wayward strands of wet hair from his face. "Just don't put me in a box like a baby bird. Looks like we're going to be spending a lot of time together in the next while, so call me Andre."

"All right, Andre." Ratchet agreed, brow ridges lowering in confusion. "How do you know we'll be spending a lot of time together?"

"One of the Mounties had a functional cell phone and I got a hold of Insp. Huff. It was proposed and accepted by Aegis that all you mechs have a human guide to help you adapt and generally keep you out of trouble. Your little scene on the highway clinched it. Agent Black apparently had word from another source just as I called in the first time. He didn't take the news well but is handling the damage control. The guide suggestion was a quick compromise suggested by Perceptor and guess who got 'volunteered' to be the first one." The constable quirked a half smile at Ratchet. He seemed resigned, but not really upset, if Ratchet was reading his body language correctly. He wished Jazz were here. Jazz was much more adept at reading the complex unspoken communication system humans had. It was much more complex than a mechamorphs.

The constable sighed and took a deep breath before continuing. "You are supposed to break down the camp and move it. A good idea, regardless. Now that all those people know you are here, you will get a lot of nosy fools sneaking in to take pictures and make nuisances of themselves. You don't want that, especially not with those two over there."

Ratchet didn't need to turn to see who Andre was gesturing at or why. He crouched down to prevent the man from getting the neck strain Hound always complained of. "I can't argue with that. As you said, a good idea regardless; I can't even argue with the guide suggestion. We aren't really good at keeping a low profile."

"No you aren't or staying out of trouble. How much do you need to pack up? We need to find a new place for you to stay." Andre made a show of glancing down at himself. "And I wouldn't mind stopping at home for a shower and change."

"Once I round up the Twins, it won't take too long to break everything down and begin loading it up. Fortunately, we made a point of packing light." Ratchet stood.

Hound laughed. "Of course, since you are the mech that gets to carry most of it."

Ratchet just huffed and went to collect the Twins.

~0~0~0~

That evening, after an agreement had been made with the humans and a new base camp was set up in the warehouse, Aegis called Ratchet, Jazz, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe aside. Hound and Perceptor continued working on making the building somewhat habitable.

Aegis looked them over for a long moment. He stood with his arms crossed, fingers tapping in a broken rhythm as he considered the three mechs. He looked from one to the other, his gaze finally settling on Sideswipe and Sunstreaker.

Aegis looked them in the optics. "Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, I'm going to speak with the Constable about some suitable tasks to set you two to."

Sunstreaker's optics widened in surprise, then narrowed. Clenching his fists, he snarled, "What the frag for?"

"What? I was only trying to help, Aegis," Sideswipe protested.

"Sideswipe, wait a moment. Sunstreaker, you were incredibly rude and difficult today. More so than usual. I know that this is a difficult situation for you to adapt to but it is the same for all of us. You are going to just have to learn to cope. You will be doing double duty until your attitude improves. Am I understood?" He held the yellow Viper's gaze.

"Yes sir," Sunstreaker muttered sullenly.

"You are dismissed to help Hound and Perceptor with their tasks and you are not to give them a hard time. " Aegis watched as Sunstreaker nodded and trudged over to assist the other two Exiles before turning to Sideswipe.

"Sideswipe, I know you were trying to help. However, your recklessness endangered the native femme and your inability to realize the consequences of your actions could have put us all in danger. We are exceedingly lucky things turned out as well as they did. This is not even considering that stunt with Sunstreaker this afternoon. You know better." Aegis spoke softly, arms crossed, keeping his tone as firm as his stance.

Sideswipe slumped, like all the air had been let out of his tires.

"Sideswipe, your spark was in the right place, but I've told you before, you have to fully engage your CPU before acting." Aegis laid an understanding hand on his shoulder. "This isn't the Arena anymore."

Sideswipe wouldn't meet his optics and mumbled something that sounded like "Yes sir."

"Good mech. Now go help out your brother. He missed you." Aegis patted his shoulder encouragingly, and then sent the gladiator off.

"Don't you think you are going a little easy on him?" Ratchet 's disapproving tone drew Aegis' attention.

"Not at all. He's already done his time and is making amends. You two, however -" Aegis began.

Ratchet couldn't believe his audios and blew a gasket. "What the frag do you mean, 'you two'?" Ratchet exploded, fists clenched at his sides and glaring at the helicopter mech.

"Ratchet, until otherwise noted, I am in command of this group and you will listen when I am speaking to you!" Aegis didn't yell, didn't even raise his voice very much, but the fierce tone of contained anger was one Ratchet had never heard before.

Ratchet shut up, taken aback and actually took a couple steps backwards, even though Aegis had made no motion towards him. It occurred to Ratchet that this was the first time he had seen his normally very patient friend this fragged off and it was directed at him.

Aegis kept his hot glare on Ratchet a few moments longer. When he was certain Ratchet understood him, Aegis turned to look at the uncharacteristically quiet Jazz.

Aegis noted his nervousness and something else. Of all the mechs that had survived, Jazz had lost the most. Both his companion mechs, Rewind and Eject, had died when they emerged from the White Hole and crashed on this world. He didn't entirely understand the relationship between controllers and their companions. Companions were both creations and an actual part of the parent mech, linked through some quirk of programming and their Nexus generators. When Rewind and Eject died, Jazz had lost part of himself.

And as much as he hated to do so, Aegis hadn't had any choice in putting Jazz in command of the third group. Jazz was the only other survivor with any experience in leading other mechs. He had to separate the Twins and Bluestreak; any combination of the three would be trouble.

Bluestreak had started bonding with Prowl as the white and black patiently coaxed him through his trauma. That meant they had to be sent together.

Aegis had taken the most difficult of the three, Sunstreaker, with him.

This had left Jazz to deal with Sideswipe. The two of them, fortunately, got along well but the Twins would only accept Aegis' or Ratchet's authority. Therefore, Ratchet had to go with Jazz as well.

Now he realized that this was probably a mistake. He had forgotten about Ratchet's rebellious streak and had hoped that his tendency to dominate a situation would have helped Jazz keep Sideswipe reigned in. Instead, Ratchet undermined Jazz's authority and the situation had gotten confused and out of hand. He shook his head slightly.

"Jazz, I'm really disappointed in you. You left Sideswipe defenseless in the hands of a potential enemy. Want to tell me what in the pit happened here?" Aegis might have stood a head shorter than the white mech but the size difference mattered little, especially now.

"Aegis, I'm sorry. I know I messed up and it won't happen again. I'll even apologize to Sides." Jazz looked at his feet and scuffed at the dirt.

"That will be a good start. Jazz, what did I tell you when I appointed you to lead this group?" Aegis' amber visor flashed as he looked directly into Jazz's blue one, pinning him with a stern look.

"To call you or Prowl if I had questions or got in over my head. Yeah, I remember. You're right. I should have called. I will next time." The large mech felt really small under Aegis' optics.

Ratchet scowled at the contrite Jazz. "Over your head?" He turned to the tan mech. "We handled it, Aegis."

Aegis fixed Ratchet in place with a glare. "You got supremely lucky, that's what. Ratchet, you are insubordinate and out of line. I had thought to speak with you more in private and explain things but I see that's impossible. Let me put this in monochrome for you. You were supposed to help Jazz monitor Sideswipe. Instead, you both let him run loose in circumstances he has no experience in. Therefore, he screwed up. You then left him alone at the base camp. Unsupervised again. He followed you and participated in that fiasco with the native femme's mate and the Constable. That was the point you two should have contacted Prowl or myself. Instead, you took matters into your own hands and abandoned Sideswipe."

"He was in no danger, Aegis!" Ratchet threw up his arms in exasperation. "Constable Viton wouldn't have hurt him. Couldn't have, these humans are too small and primitive to hurt us." He put his hands on his hips and leaned forward to glower at Aegis. "Besides, it was the best way to start off fresh with them and make a better impression," Ratchet growled.

"Ratchet, you are a naïve, trusting fool. Primitive, yes they are, but not so much that they can't be dangerous. Ratchet," Aegis paused, rubbing his forehead. "There are 10 of us. There are millions of them. Our safety and survival are paramount. We can always soothe bruised feelings later."

"But Aegis… " Ratchet tried to cut in.

"There are no 'buts', Ratchet. Consider this scenario: What if Sideswipe had been hurt or worse, killed?" Aegis continued, relentless.

"They wouldn't," Ratchet's optics widened in horror, conviction beginning to waver.

"Those humans in black might have." Aegis was certain of that. Those humans set off his proximity alarms.

"They couldn't." Ratchet's shoulders slumped.

"They could. Don't underestimate a species you know nothing about. Now, you will be joining Sideswipe in his appointed task and you will also be doing double duty until otherwise noted."

Ratchet looked at the ground. No one had dressed him down like that since he had been a newly built intern. "Understood Aegis. I get what you are saying."

"Good. Go join the others in converting this decrepit warehouse to a base camp. I need to finish speaking to Jazz," Aegis gave Ratchet a pointed look. "Preferably without further interruptions."

Ratchet nodded, rubbing his chin, thoughtfully and left to join the others, for once quiet and subdued.

Aegis watched him join Perceptor and Hound, and then turned back to Jazz. Jazz was watching them as well. He turned back to Aegis, dread written in his every feature.

Aegis gripped his arm. "Jazz, I'm not going to send you to the smelting vats over this. One, I don't have any handy and two, I don't think you deserve it."

Jazz's mouth dropped open, visor flashing in confusion. "But Ratch…"

Aegis cut in. "Didn't understand and was really testing my patience. He and I are old friends, but I can't make allowances for that now." Aegis released him to cross his arms. He tilted his head meaningfully. "And neither can you."

Jazz winced, apparently remembering that Aegis knew about him and Ratchet.

"You're going to be doing double shifts anyways until Prowl rejoins us, so consider yourself punished." Aegis stepped back and looked Jazz over closely. Something about him was off. Different and not just the grief.

Jazz squirmed, uncomfortably under Aegis' gaze. "Double duty? What am I going to be doing?"

"Until Prowl arrives, you are second in command and will be working with me in dealing with our hosts. Also, you will be working with Perceptor on some research projects."

~0~0~0~

Jazz groaned and shuttered his optics. While he liked Perceptor, the red scientist was hard to talk to, even for a Communicator like Jazz. To follow what Perceptor was saying, Jazz had to run a dictionary program continuously in his HUD. Aegis couldn't have picked a more suitable punishment for him. He unshuttered his optics and looked over to where the red scientist was working. Perceptor was speaking animatedly with Ratchet. Hound had moved over to work with the Twins and waved when he noticed Jazz looking at him. Jazz waved back and with a final glance at Perceptor, he turned back to Aegis, suppressing a shudder. Only to find the Guardian staring curiously at him.

"Why are you staring at me?" Jazz squirmed under his leader's gaze. He didn't know why but Aegis always made him feel like he was newly built.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Jazz, but isn't it a little soon for you to be budding?" Aegis asked.

Out of all the things Jazz had expected Aegis to say that was dead last on the list. He gaped at his leader for a moment, and then stammered. "How did you know? I just realized it this morning."

"It was my function to know, Jazz. As a Guardian, I had to understand how people thought, what caused them to act in certain ways and what motivated them. Does Ratchet know?"

"No, he doesn't know. Been too wrapped up with the thing with Sideswipe and the humans to notice. How could he? I just noticed myself." Jazz paused, considering. "And yeah, it has hit me pretty fast. I didn't think I'd bud for another vorn, if ever again." He grimaced, shuddering slightly. The pain of loss was still fresh and strong in his processor.

Aegis gripped his shoulder. "Steady Jazz. Remember we're here for you. All of us."

Jazz nodded, forcibly calming himself. He could deal with this. He could. Maybe if he told himself that enough, one day he'd actually believe it.

"You need some time to collect yourself?" Aegis gripped his other shoulder, looking up into the distraught Controller's face.

"No, I need something to distract myself with." Jazz pulled himself up straight and composed himself.

"Alright. First thing I want you to work on is locating the medical facility that the native, Gwen Killem, was taken to and arrange an audience. I believe it's time I met her myself."

~0~0~0~


	8. Setting a Date

**DISCLAIMERS:** I don't own Transformers. They just came over from Hasbro to visit and be general pains-in-the-aft. All the humans in the story are mine. Rated Mature for coarse language.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Silly me, I thought I had finished and posted this already. My only excuse is real life has been above and beyond insane. Hoping things have settled down, in real life that is. The plot should just get more complicated from here on out.

**Special thanks go out once again, to Okami-chan, my poor overworked beta, for helping me edit this. **

* * *

Gwen woke to the rattle of a cart. She turned and looked blearily at the woman in a pink medical uniform, carrying a tray to her table. As bad as hospital food was, it still looked promising. Of course, anything topped the three meals of Jell-O that she had received after Andrea was born.

"Oh good, you're awake. The doctor will be in to see you shortly. That nice policeman that was here yesterday called and left you a message. Sounded kind of important." The woman filled up Gwen's water jug as she spoke, "I'll bring you the phone to call him back after you speak to the doctor."

Gwen blinked, trying to wrap her fuzzy brain around that. For the life of her, she couldn't think of anything else the police would want from her. "Okay," she nodded. This was going to bug her.

~0~0~0~

After Gwen had finished eating, Dr Heimdall came in to discuss her test results. Everything was looking good so far and it was likely they would release her tomorrow, once the final results came back. They were just waiting on the 'exotic' tests. Gwen lay back in her bed and sighed. What did they think she would catch from giant robots anyways? A bad case of rust?

The woman in pink poked her head in the door. "Mrs. Killem? I brought the cordless for you and the message. Just ring the desk when you are done." She walked in, passed the items to Gwen and left, taking the breakfast dishes with her.

Gwen looked at the message. Just the constable's name, time he called and the phone number he could be reached at. It seemed like an odd number but she didn't feel like getting up to try to find his card in her bedside cabinet. Well enough to go home didn't mean she was ready to run a marathon.

She had wracked her brains all morning trying to get a glimmer of what this may be about and had come up empty. With a last mental shrug, she dialled.

"Gwen? Gwen Killem?" A strangely familiar voice answered. Gwen looked at the phone in shock. Whoever it was, it certainly wasn't the police officer she spoke to yesterday. And how could whomever that was know it was her calling?

"Uhm, yes it is. I'm returning Constable Viton's call; he left a message for me this morning. Is he available?" A familiar sinking feeling was starting in the pit of her stomach. Something was wrong.

"Nexus, you sound so much better than you did the last time I saw you. Ratch will be ecstatic," the voice replied cheerfully.

Gwen's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open, "Jazz? Is that you?"

"'Tis me, ma chérie! How you feeling?" Jazz inquired, cheerfully.

"Fine. I… I'm doing lots better. Uhm, is Constable Viton around by any chance?" Stunned did not cover how she felt right now.

"Probably is somewhere, but he didn't call you. I did." Jazz sounded smug.

"What? He didn't? You did? What for?" Gwen gaped at the cordless receiver for a moment. "You are aware it is illegal to impersonate a police officer, don't you?"

"It is? Whoops!" Jazz sounded sheepish. "I'll have to apologize to him later."

Gwen sighed. "Jazz, you called me because…" she trailed off, waiting.

"Aegis wants to meet you."

"Jazz, you are going to have to help me out here a bit. I hit my head really hard and I'm really lucky I actually remember who you are at all. Who is Aegis?" Gwen rubbed her temple, trying to stave off a headache.

"Aegis is our leader. I thought you said you were fine?" Jazz sounded worried now.

"I'm terrific for someone with a bad concussion. Why does he want to meet me?"

"He didn't actually say. So, when would be a good time?" Jazz persisted.

Gwen lay back in the hospital bed and sighed. She really didn't feel up to visitors, especially of the giant variety. "Well, I don't know. I can have visitors here but I have a feeling that he won't fit through the door."

"Hmm, didn't think of that. I'll ask Andre and see what he says."

"Andre?" Gwen couldn't place the name.

"The constable. Will you meet with Aegis?"

"Sure, I'll meet him. Have the constable call me later to set something up." Tired as she was, she wouldn't miss it. "Just make sure it's the real one, not you masquerading as him, alright?"

"No problemo, sweetheart. Hasta la vista!" Jazz hung up.

Gwen stared at the phone. Hasta la vista? She shook her head and rang for the nurse. She would have to see about a shower or something. She was not meeting alien dignitaries or whatever looking like this.

~0~0~0~

"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" A large bouquet of flowers was talking to her. Gwen blinked. She didn't recall meeting a second alien race. And she somehow thought that one that looked like a flower garden would have stood out.

The floral visitor moved towards her and transformed into her husband. Gwen blinked again, waking more fully up. Brad was placing the large bunch of flowers on her nightstand. She rubbed her eyes. What a weird way to wake up. "Hi Brad. How's Andrea? Did you know you look like an alien from outer space?" she mumbled sleepily.

Brad paused in pulling up the guest chair. He looked over at her, eyes wide and disbelieving. He quickly resumed positioning the chair and sat in it. "Uhm, Andrea is fine. Misses you lots," he tentatively replied. Brad leaned forward, rubbing his chin as he scrutinized her. "Are you all right? Did you get any test results yet?"

"Most of the tests came back fine. Just waiting on one more. If that one is fine, I can go home." Gwen carefully stretched and yawned. "What time is it?" She still felt exhausted, even after a long nap.

"Mid-afternoon. Do you know when that test will come back? We're anxious for you to come home." Brad fidgeted in his seat. He looked at her, gripping the arms of the chair and letting them go.

"I don't know when it will come back. I'm stuck here until then. Relax, sweetie. You aren't the only one who is anxious for me to get out. The leader of the robots, uh, Aegis, wants to meet me." Gwen shifted herself, trying to sit up and get comfortable. It wasn't working. She hated hospital beds.

Brad paused in his motion to assist her. He looked at her with a mix of disbelief and horror. "Please tell me you didn't say what I think you just said."

"Brad, relax. That cop that has been helping us, he's supposed to arrange it. If it was dangerous, he'd stop it." Gwen sat up cross-legged and jammed her pillows behind her. Still not comfortable but better.

"Absolutely not. Those things are dangerous. You are still in the hospital for God's sakes! They were after our daughter." Brad's voice trailed off as Gwen pursed her lips. "Gwen, please, tell me you told them no."

"Brad, will you settle down? I didn't tell them 'no'. I told them to have that constable arrange it. The leader of an alien species wants to meet _me_, Brad. How could I say no?" Gwen bristled. Why couldn't he be happy for her? For a change? "And they weren't after Andrea. They just wanted to see her. They didn't hurt her and Jazz gave her back when he saw how upset you got."

"How do you know that? You weren't there. You were on the way to the hospital," Brad replied angrily.

"I know I wasn't there. That constable was and he told me when he came to interview me. I would have loved to seen it. Sounded pretty cute." She smiled trying to picture it.

"It was not cute. It was fucking scary. When that white one picked Andrea up…" Brad stood abruptly, eyes blazing.

"Jazz."

"What?"

"His name is Jazz. He's pretty friendly. Always smiling and he has a nice voice." Gwen remembered that much about him.

"I don't care what its name is, I just don't want it around my family." Brad seethed, moving to pace at the foot of the bed.

"Look Brad, I understand your concern. They are big and pretty scary when you first meet them. But they took good care of me and even brought me home when I asked. I'd like to learn more about them. If they are dangerous and nasty, I'll back off and stay away from them." Gwen glanced at the door to the room. Last time Brad had gotten so worked up, the nurse had thrown him out.

Brad noticed her looking towards the door and took the hint. He settled back into the chair and clenched the arms. "We already know that red one is dangerous and nasty." He spoke softly, visibly controlling his temper.

"Ah, the red one. He's called Sigh… something. He's a big goofball." Gwen closed her eyes briefly, trying to remember. She clearly remembered him making faces but Brad probably didn't want to hear that.

"Gwen, he attacked that cop, attacked you and nearly attacked me. He's dangerous!" Brad stood, throwing his arms up for emphasis.

"Calm down, Brad, do you want the nurse to throw you out again? Look, he didn't attack me. Scared me spit-less but didn't attack me." Gwen rubbed her forehead. Her headache was returning and bringing reinforcements.

"Uh huh. Then how did you end up with a concussion?" Brad crossed his arms and arched an eyebrow at her.

"I uhm… I don't really remember. It's pretty fuzzy. I just know he wasn't attacking me. He took me back to their camp for the… other white one to fix. The one that drove me home. Look Brad, I've told you this already. Will you settle down? Please?" Gwen sank back onto the bed, holding her head.

"It just kills me seeing you in here Gwen. You know how I hate hospitals. And when you were missing… I couldn't stand it." Brad sat down, abashed and leaned back in his chair, rubbing his forehead. "And now you tell me you want to jump back into it and meet more of them."

"Come on Brad. You know me better than that. I'm not jumping into anything. I'll be careful."

"Yes Gwen, I do know you. That's why I'm worried."

Gwen sighed and rolled her eyes. This was going nowhere. "How's Andrea doing? Will you bring her by later?"

"Andrea's fine," Brad sighed. "I'll bring her by. She'll like that."

"Good. Bring her colouring stuff too. And don't forget the duck." Gwen mentally ticked off the 'Andrea' list. Nothing worse than a bored three year old and she already had one cranky person to deal with. She didn't need another.

"Oh no. I'm not forgetting that ever again. Last time I forgot it, I ended up in this mess," Brad sourly replied.

Gwen could only laugh and reach over to hug him.

~0~0~0~

Andre sat on the hood of his car and sipped his coffee. He considered it fortunate that there was a Tim Hortons nearby. He was going to need all the caffeine he could get riding herd on a bunch of giant robots with more arriving any day now. Especially since he had been up late hashing out the details of his new assignment. He took a big sip. Oh yes, coffee was his friend today.

He had casually dressed today, in jeans and a t-shirt, reasoning after yesterday, it was a better choice. Not that he had much to do at the moment. The Exiles, as they called themselves, were hard at work cleaning up the warehouse that had been given to them. They had cleared away all the debris already and were demolishing the upper floors. He had offered to help but Aegis had politely turned him down, asking only for somewhere to dispose of the debris. One quick phone call to Agent Black had taken care of that.

Andre amused himself watching them interact with each other. Aegis had gone to scout around, leaving Jazz in charge. Jazz wandered around the room, chatting with each of the other robots before taking Hound to start on demolishing the second level. Andre really wondered about those two. Hound had been riding around on Jazz's shoulder all morning, leaning up against Jazz's head. Andre put it to the back of his mind. He'd ask later.

Ratchet harangued the brothers, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, in their native language after breaking up yet another spat. Perceptor, the other red robot watched for a moment, then shook his head and continued the clean up.

"They definitely have a talent for getting under Ratchet's plating, don't they?"

Andre nearly jumped off the hood. He fumbled for a moment with his travel mug before turning to gaze at an amused Hound.

"How can someone who's made of metal and weighs a quarter ton move so quietly?" He shook his head, exasperated.

"I don't quite mass that much Constable and I'm a scout. I was built to move quietly." Hound smiled. "Jazz wants to talk to you away from prying audios."

"Prying audios? No, don't explain. I understand what you meant." Andre held up a hand to forestall the explanation Hound was sure to give him. "I meant, what does he need to see me about that he doesn't want anyone else to hear and without Aegis here."

"Aegis tasked him with setting up a meeting with the human femme that Sideswipe almost ran over," Hound lowered his voice to just above a whisper. He watched his comrades carefully as if checking to see if they overheard.

"Where is he?" Andre asked. He didn't like that they were going behind his back on this. Not only was he their human contact, but the woman they wanted to see was still in hospital because of them.

"Follow me, Constable," Hound turned, motioning for Andre to follow.

"Hound, please, just call me Andre." He slid off the hood and fell into step with the green robot.

"All right, Andre. I must confess; I find human naming conventions somewhat confusing." Hound favoured him with a confused glance as he spoke.

"It can be confusing for us at times too. I'll do my best to help you out."

"Well, your name for instance. You are called Andre, Constable, and Constable Viton. Which one is correct?" Hound had led them to the human sized door. He paused and faced the Constable. "Jazz is just outside."

"What's he doing outside? I thought the idea was for you all to avoid attracting too much attention." Andre hoped he got some additional help soon. Keeping track of all the robots was akin to herding cats.

"It's all right, Andre. Jazz and I are experts at being discreet. He's in his alt mode, which is significantly smaller than his root form," Hound reassured him.

"Ah, right, I remember. He changes into some strange electronic gadget. Fit rather well into Ratchet's back seat if I recall. Okay, other than someone wandering by and trying to steal him, he's fine. How about you? Do you shrink into some strange widget too?" The Constable eyed Hound's wheels dubiously.

"My alt form is a four wheeled off road vehicle. I scanned it up North. It seemed a sensible form for a scout, though I haven't really seen any within the city yet. I used a hologram to disguise myself while I was outdoors. No one saw me in my natural form."

"A hologram? Like on Star Trek?"

"I don't know what Star Trek is but I can show you my hologram." Hound vanished and Andre found himself staring at a dark haired young man in a uniform. At first glance, he would be mistaken for a policeman.

"Holy shit!" Andre exclaimed. "How'd you do that?"

"I'm not really sure how it works, I've always been able to project detailed holograms since I first came online. Is this sufficient as a disguise?" The fake 'cop' smiled at his discomfiture.

"Yes, though you might want something a little less… cop-like. It's illegal to impersonate a police officer or any federal official." Andre looked over the hologram with a critical eye. "The head is fine, just change the clothes." The almost uniform changed to something that resembled Andre's current outfit.

"How's this?" Hound asked.

"Much better. Now, what does Jazz want?"

"You aren't going to answer my question?"

"What? Oh, sorry. Human names. Right." Andre stroked his chin, considering. "All three are correct in certain circumstances. Andre is my given name, Constable is the short form of my rank, and Viton is my family name. Formally and professionally, I'm Constable Viton. My co-workers and superiors usually call me Viton or Constable depending on the situation. My friends and family call me Andre." He looked into the eyes of the hologram. "Does that clear things up a bit?"

The hologram managed a good impression of human confusion. "I'll have to compile that for a bit. Run some comparisons. I don't think I have enough data."

"It's okay if you find it confusing. Like I already said, it can be confusing for us too. Different cultures do things differently," Andre shrugged. "Now, what does Jazz want and why is he outside?"

"He's outside to get as far away from curious audios as he can without leaving the area. And as far as what he wants, Jazz needs help setting up that meeting with the femme. She told him to have you contact her about it. And, uhm, I think he accidentally broke that impersonation law when he contacted her."

Wonderful. Andre sighed. "Let's go talk to Jazz." He definitely needed more help.

~0~0~0~

The doctor sat in his office, catching up on his paperwork. He signed the last form, picked up his mug and took a sip, grimacing at the ice cold coffee within. He hated cold coffee.

The phone ringing loudly in the silence of the office broke him from his musing on a mug warmer. "Dr Heimdall here."

"Good evening Doctor. Working late tonight?"

"Just catching up on my paperwork and waiting for your call. I need to know when I can send the Killem woman home. This fictional 'test' isn't going to hold her for much longer. She's an intelligent woman, she's asking questions that I can't doctor talk around for much longer. Not to mention I don't like filling a hospital bed with someone well enough to recover at home. We do have a shortage of beds. Keeping her here, national security or no, is preventing us from treating someone else." Dr Heimdall got to the point. This cloak and dagger bullshit did not sit well with him.

"A little touchy tonight, Doctor? Be patient, we understand your concerns. Mrs Killem will be able to go home in two days time. You need to assist us in making arrangements for some special visitors to see her."

"Visiting hours are from eight to eight every day. As long as they aren't disturbing the other patients, they can come anytime."

"I'm afraid it isn't that easy, Dr Heimdall. These 'visitors' are a little on the tall side. Just shy of five meters."

Dr Heimdall blinked. "_Five_ meters? Listen Agent Black, I'm old school, what is that in feet?"

"Sixteen feet. One is a little taller but sixteen is the average."

The doctor rubbed his face. "Oh dear lord."

"Hence the need for special arrangements. I trust you can take care of that?"

"I'll need to speak to the director." He dreaded that conversation.

"You do that. Make it for early tomorrow afternoon."

"I don't know if I can get it arranged that soon. The director is a busy man."

"Aren't we all, Doctor? See to it. Consider it the fastest way to freeing up a badly needed bed in your hospital." Agent Black hung up.

Dr Heimdall hung up the receiver and stared at the phone for a couple minutes before picking it up and dialling. He reflected that it was a good thing he had already confided about the agent with the director over coffee. It meant he might be able to get through this call without being taken to the psych ward.


End file.
